


Learning To Fly

by Isabelle_Jennings



Category: DCU, DCU (Animated), DCU (Comics), Firestorm (Comics), Green Lantern (Comics), Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons), Wonder Woman (Comics)
Genre: Amazons of Themyscira, Cheetah - Freeform, Deborah Camille Darnell, F/F, Firehawk, Fury (Justice League), Mademoiselle Marie (DCU), Plastique, Star Sapphire Corps
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-03
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-01-07 06:59:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 37,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1116880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isabelle_Jennings/pseuds/Isabelle_Jennings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Diana has lived on the island paradise of Themyscira all her life, protected by her people's patron goddesses. Lately though, she's dreamt of challenging the storm barrier and venturing out into the outside world, to test herself, and find the truth of her own heart. Once she does though, the world is not at all what she might have expected, and she struggles to understand. It's then that she meets Remoni-Notra, a Star Sapphire shining with the power of love made manifest, but she also happens to be also a wanted criminal with a deeply troubled past...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Things We Wish For

#1: THE THINGS WE WISH FOR

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 _Themyscira, island home of the Amazons of Greek legend, Earth_  
_\-- 3271, 4th month, 14th day, Themysciran calendar --_

Diana smiled as she skimmed over the waters of the ocean around Themyscira, her island home, touching the water's surface with her fingers as she went. She put on more and more speed, then arched straight up into the sky, through the clouds and towards the sun. The warmth felt good, and, though the air hitting her skin was very cold that high up, it was all just a thrilling, joyous sensation, bringing her no pain or discomfort. As she rose though, she began to see the hidden storm and thunder. She was tempted to keep going, but once again let her mother's voice hold her back. This barrier of storms was the work of the goddesses, meant to keep her and her people safe from the world beyond that had been so full of hardships and strife that Athena, Artemis, Hestia, Aphrodite, and Demeter brought together the souls of their faithful followers and made them born anew though Gaea's grace--immortal and forever to live here in paradise. They set her mother, Hippolyta, as queen and in time fashioned her a daughter as answer to her heart-felt prayer. That was who she was: Diana, the only daughter of paradise, gifted with power like no other, for what reason she did not know. _"Surely the goddesses would look poorly on any who sought to turn away from the gift of paradise"_ , her mother told her. _"It would be best not to test their forgiveness.a And besides, what could you hope for that is not already given you?"_ But, to herself, Diana always wondered: Why would the goddesses give her the ability to fly far and wide if they did not mean her to use it? Why would she be trained as a warrior if not to experience an adventure?

Diana sighed. "Maybe tomorrow, my great mystery." She told the storm. She floated down to the island and smiled as she saw a familiar face on the cliff where she liked to come and read sometimes. Over the long centuries, her people had written some truly great books--history, science, philosophy, fiction, she particularly enjoyed the romances, and more besides. She herself had even written a book of poems and short stories at one point in her younger years.

She landed in front of this woman and kissed her, pressed her body into hers and felt her lover's body welcome her. Her lover's arms, hands slide over her body. Her warmth, her scent, the feel of her skin on hers, the fabric of her clothing, the small, intimate sounds she made, their tongues dancing together in a playful battle for dominance that neither cared to actually win. "MMmm, my beloved." She smiled to her, resting one hand on the other woman's shoulder, the other caressing her hair.

"Diana." Phillipus answered, smiling, her hands resting on Diana's waist, eyes looking into hers. Phillipus: Her mother's general at arms and protector. She had been Diana's first crush and, for the last two years or so (one didn't keep exact track of time for most things on Themyscira), she had also been her lover.

Diana kissed her softly again and Phillipus kissed her back with a little more of a sense claiming in her lips this time. Phillipus was so beautiful and so full of life, but she was also brave and strong, and even Diana's mother deferred to her on some matters. She was considered one of the very best warriors on the island. And she was also very kind, tender, and exciting as a lover, while also being... noble and so sure of herself. It all added up to this sort of magnetism about her that made Diana feel so... lost to her sometimes, overwhelmed, in a way she very much enjoyed being overwhelmed.

Diana smiled joyfully as the kiss ended and she pulled back a little. "You looked for me here? You missed me?" Diana asked, pleased if her assumption were true.

"You do seem to fly away from me more often of late, it worries me... where I am ill used to worrying such over anything at all."  Phillipus admitted with some small hint of uncharacteristic insecurity in her voice.

Diana's smile softened and she stroked her lover's beautiful face, searching Phillipus's eyes for an answer to a vague question that was not yet fully formed in her mind's eye. "I may fly away, that is true, but the memory of the touch of your lips, your hands, always draws me back, does it not?" Her heart was beating faster now than it had when she'd been flying. Something wasn't right between them anymore, and she badly wished for it not to be so. Badly wished to forget that feeling and just be lovers with no care for anything but one another's sweet touch once again. That's how it had been between them in the beginning, but something had crept in, some thief, or imagined demon, so that it seemed every time Diana saw her lover now, there was a little more... fear... in her eyes. It was confusing and Diana hated it, hated that she could somehow be the cause of it; but, at the same time, as much as she searched for an answer, she didn't know how she could have caused it, or how to make it go away, besides perhaps ending it between them, which her heart very much did not wish her to do.

Phillipus smiled to her for saying this. A sweet, charmed smile, one that showed of an innocence and soft joy she would rarely show to others. A lover's gift, one to be treasured, thought Diana, feeling very privileged to be able to see such a thing and know it was meant only for her. Her mother had been right, Diana thought as she kissed Phillipus softly again, trying to forget her worries, there was precious little in her life that she could rightly want for. And yet, even as she pressed her lips more closely to her lover's, opened her mouth, and danced her eager tongue with her lover's, still there was a longing in her. A longing to test herself, to see what her limits were. How far she could fly? How true she could love if challenged? Could she look in the mirror one day and see the nobility and sure grace she saw in her lover in her own eyes perhaps? She knew the souls of her sisters had seen great tests and trials before they were carried here to paradise, and that they all carried with them the memories of that shared experience. But she had no such memories of the soul, no such shared connection of history to bind her so to her sisters. And she wished to. She wished to be able to walk with them on the beach and feel herself their equal, truly their equal. To be able to say that she too had struggled and fought and shown her bravery--proven, if only to herself, the quality of her soul to be a match for theirs. If she could do that, she thought to herself, then maybe... maybe she would know what to say or do to make things right between her and her lover again? Maybe she would know how to make things right within herself?

"So far, it always has it seems." Phillipus replied as their kiss ended again.

They stood there in a close embrace, the ocean's winds blowing against them. "The dreams I have, of testing the storms, they trouble you still. You believe... that I will not come back to you--not keep faith with you in the outside world, perhaps?" Diana asked without judgment.

Phillipus lowered her eyes from Diana's. "You cast unearned shame on me, asking such a thing." She replied softly, looking again back to Diana's eyes. "I do not worry for your fealty as a lover... Should you chose another over me one day, I could accept it. It is often the way of such things for us here. Forever is a long time indeed, after all."

"Then what? What troubles you so?" Diana asked, secretly a little disappointed in her lover's reply. She would have... hoped, perhaps, for some, well, if not jealousy, a stronger sense of propriety or possessiveness then. A stronger denial, a stronger belief in their connection, or perhaps just a stronger belief from Phillipus in Diana herself. Or possibly that belief was there and Diana simply didn't know where to look? She doubted herself, found herself doubting herself more each time she flew into the sky and came back down to the ground, letting her mother's words hold her back.

"The world outside this island, Diana..." Phillipus began, but stopped as she saw Diana begin to close herself off. She brought her hand up to caress Diana's long raven hair. "I worry that it will one day take you from me. If..." She sighed, deciding to admit to a selfish thing, if only to cover up the larger worry in her that she knew her lover would not easily forgive her for voicing. "If you took another of our sisters as a lover in my place, I would still see your smile each day, be able to talk with you, play in the water, or spar with you. You are the only one here who can best me every time, and that is a rare gift, you know... But if this other world stole you from me, I could, we all could lose you... You are a light to us Diana." She caressed Diana's face and looked deeply into her eyes. "You have become a light to me; my life would be darker for your lacking, and I do not wish it to be." She admitted.

Diana felt her defenses go down and warmth sweep through her heart once more. She kissed her lover and felt her skin come alive at touching her. "Your words are beautiful... They sing to me. Sometimes though, I think words... only get in the way?" She kissed her lover's neck, behind her ear, slid the cloth from her shoulder.

"Diana..." Phillipus sighed.

"Shh..." Diana kissed her lips again. "Just be here with me--I am here with you, am I not?" She asked hopefully.

"...You are." Phillipus agreed, kissing her forcefully, her hands coming to Diana's cheeks.

Diana felt the rush of passion come through her as she kissed back just as ardently, sliding her hands over her lover's body, seeking to free her of her of her clothes.

"Lay for me...?" Phillipus told her.

Diana shivered a little at the tone of her voice, the desire she heard there. The need.

"No, not yet..." Diana smiled to her playfully, looking into her eyes as if in challenge for a moment and liking what she saw in them back. A question: _Would you have me lie for you then?_ Diana considered it. She did enjoy being on top, being the one to claim, to possess, even though she more often found herself being claimed where Phillipus was concerned, and she liked that just as much, if not, perhaps, just a little bit more. But no, later--now she wanted to... to let her lover know something somehow, and she didn't have words for it, so she hoped maybe this would do as well...

Her lover's clothes falling from her, Diana stepped back and undid her own clothing, letting them fall from her, even as their eyes never left one another. She then stepped forwards and brought her hands to Phillipus's chest, her thumps to her nipples. Phillipus held her waist and looked into her eyes, hunger there, trust, but also, she was unsure of herself, or more likely, of Diana, of what Diana was going to do, and not just in this moment, and that bothered Diana, she wanted... she wanted to prove to Phillipus... something...

She lowered herself slowly to her knees then, running her hands down Phillipus's body, relishing the feeling of her skin and her sleek, sinewy physique. On her knees, she began to lick her lover's sex.

"Oh, Diana..." Phillipus spoke softly, spreading her stance a little and bringing her hands to Diana's head, tangling them a little in her hair and caressing her scalp as Diana moved in closer and pleasured her.

Before long, it became evident to Diana that her lover was having trouble staying on her feet (surely, Phillipus was strong enough to, if she were to master her desire, but truly, why would she wish to?), and though she knew she could hold her up, easily even support her weight on her face if she wanted to, the grass seemed a somehow more sensible option, so she stopped and sat back a little, looking up into her lover's face, running her hands up and down Phillipus's waist. She didn't speak, neither did Phillipus. Her lover just caressed her hair, brought her hands down to her cheeks and looked into her eyes before lowering herself down to her knees as well and kissing her. "You are so beautiful..." Phillipus softly told, climbing astride her lap and kissing her more forcefully.

"Mm, no more talking..." Diana asked softly into her ear, nipping at it playfully, though she naturally appreciated the complement. She urged Phillipus up a little and took one of her tits between her lips, kissing and licking at it, Phillipus holding her head to it tighter. Diana's hands had been on her lover's ass, but she brought one up to her second tit and the other down between them to Phillipus's wet and waiting sex. She played her fingers up and down it's opening, waiting a moment until she heard Phillipus groan a little more needily in want before slipping her fingers inside. Just teasing a little at first, she soon pressed her fingers deeper in and started to rock her. Letting go of her tit and using her free hand to hold her ass again, she switched her mouth from one nipple to the other, Phillipus grinding herself on Diana's hand, taking one hand from Diana's hair to her back and leaning more of her weight on Diana as she moved over her in steady rhythm.

Feeling her lover against her, the way she moved, her heat, her life, the amazing way it felt to feel her like this, so close to her, and to give her such pleasure, hear her soft sounds as she made love to her, it always went to Diana's head, thrilled her, gave her such a feeling of being alive. It was like nothing else, being with a woman you loved like this. She badly wished for it to be enough, for it to bind her and her lover together and make their worries fall away forever until this was all there was and all she wanted. At moments like this, she could even believe that might, would happen.

She felt the flood of Phillipus's orgasm over her hand, heard her soft cry of ecstasy, and simply held her to her, resting her head against her chest and closing her eyes, wishing that moments like this of clarity, where everything felt perfectly right, would last longer, but she could never quite hold onto them for long.

She slid her hand from Phillipus's sex and brought it's fingers to her lips to taste her lover. Phillipus watched this and their eyes met and Phillipus moved in to capture her lips in a lingering, bliss-filled kiss. "What you make of me..." Phillipus spoke softly. "What do I make of you, I wonder? I wish to work my ways on you again... hear you call my name..."

Phillipus moved up from her lap and Diana found herself being laid on her back below her lover, the thought of resisting this advance the very furthest from her mind. She kept looking into her lover's eyes and was captivated once again by them. When Phillipus looked at her in this way, Diana knew herself to be utterly helpless to resist her--when Phillipus looked at her like this, Diana could do nothing but give herself over to her lover, heart and soul. "I am yours..." Diana pledged softly, touching her lover's face reverently, remembering how many times when she was younger she dreamed of this, of being with this woman, and how completely fulfilling it felt the first time her desire had been satisfied, the second time, the third... and so many times since.

"Then be mine, Diana, be mine..." Phillipus moved down on her and kissed her roughly, taking her wrists and pressing them to the grass, sliding her thigh between Diana's legs and sliding against Diana's already very aroused sex. She started kissing Diana's neck, behind her ear, then she captured Diana's lips again, moving her hands up Diana's wrists until they were holding hands. Diana raised her legs up and felt her lover slide her wet sex over her thigh too. She arched her back and closed her eyes when Phillipus broke off kissing her and started nipping at her ear and the skin of her neck.

"Oh, yes..." Diana breathed, moaning as she arched her back again. She was so completely turned on, her body was singing just pleasure, happiness, lust, passion... love.

Before too long, Diana felt herself but falling, crashing, flying over the edge of sexual and emotional fulfillment. It just felt so good. That was one of her gifts too. Not only had Aphrodite given her uncommon beauty, she had also given her a gift for making love. She instinctively knew the ways of another woman's body, what would bring her lover the most pleasure. And for herself, she had seemingly endless stamina for this, especially so the more her heart and soul were completely invested of course.

"You didn't say my name..." Phillipus told her softly, running her fingers over Diana's now sensitive feeling sex, still holding one of her hands with her other hand.

Diana looked through bliss-filled eyes to meet her lover's gaze and she smiled softly to her. "Then take me again, my love, and again if you want... I am yours, remember?"

"How could I forget?" Phillipus replied just a little playfully, a flicker of uncertainty behind her gaze appearing and disappearing.

"What?" Diana asked softly.

"...It is not something I am proud of, but... Sometimes I wonder if I am more yours than you are mine." Phillipus told her honestly.

Diana looked into her eyes, her gaze hardening. "Then perhaps I should leave? Perhaps you would be better off with someone... more worthy of your trust?" She made to sit up, feeling angry and embarrassed, vulnerable and a little ashamed or guilty, she wasn't sure which.

"Diana, no." Phillipus pushed against her, but to no effect--she could not stay or move Diana back an inch, Diana was that much the stronger. With effort, Diana made herself stop.

"What do you want from me? To be someone other than who I am? That makes no sense!" Diana told her a little bitterly. "I will be someone different, in time, like anyone else, but who am I to say who that woman will be? And how long she will take to come into being? Or if she will even be a woman you will still love? You have a choice: Love me, trust me now, as I am, and stop wishing I were someone other, some woman who does not even exist, for that surely won't happen, or just... let me go." Diana met Phillipus's eyes with challenge.

Phillipus looked away a moment, then slowly met her eyes again. "You shame me again." Phillipus responded softly. "...but deservedly so this time, I think." She admitted, caressing her cheek gently. "I have... I have never loved easily, Diana. And rarely, if ever, with such... intensity... as you bring out in me. It... you, frighten me sometimes. You are so much stronger than me, than any of us. You could lift a mountain for all I know, but that has never scared me about you in the least. If anything, it's a little thrilling perhaps..." She admitted with a hint of a smile. "No, what scares me, is... how easily, with just a few words, you could cause me such pain as I have... rarely felt. And do not wish to feel again... It is a coward's excuse, is it not?" She spoke in quiet confession.

Diana met her eyes and soon smiled, just a small, gentle, little smile. "It's honest." Diana replied softly, caressing her lover's cheek with the back of her fingers. "And... such honesty is... it's anything but cowardly, Phillipus. You have no cause to feel ashamed..." Diana kissed her. "We can work, we can be together." Diana smiled a little ruefully. "It actually makes me feel a little better, to tell you my own truth."

"...Why would it do that?" Phillipus asked.

Diana smiled just a little wickedly. "Because it means you have a flaw, like me. You're not perfect. When usually... that's just how you seem to me. Perfect. It can be a little intimidating, if we are confessing things. I often wonder, actually, why you chose me."

Phillipus shook her head a little. "I didn't choose you, not really." She told her honestly.

"...What do you mean?" Diana asked.

Phillipus caressed the side of her face fondly. "It always felt to me, like _you_ chose _me_. That I had little choice in the matter." She admitted.

Diana was confused by that and it apparently showed on her face.

  
Phillipus shook her head. "That was supposed to sound romantic, I'm sorry." She smiled a little.

Diana shook her head a little. "In the beginning, it was so easy between us, wasn't it? We spoke the same and heard the same. No longer, it seems."

"...Words aren't everything." Phillipus told her.

Diana met her eyes. "No. To a bird, they are nothing at all. To us though, they are as a painter's brush, are the not?"

Phillipus was silent at that. She remembered the book those words were from. She'd read it too. Without the brush, there is still the paint, still the canvas, but if you have the use of your bare fingers only, the painting will be far less than it could be with use of the brush. Words are not the world, and they are not a woman, but without them, the book argued, life for a woman will always be far less than it could be. She sighed. "They are that." She admitted, though she somehow wished Diana's mind were not always quite so keen to make such arguments so readily. She often found herself surprised by her in that way, and not always pleasantly. Particularly lately. "We are both too easily stung by them, none the less, I think. Both, perhaps, too proud."

Diana considered that. "...That may be true." She admitted, though reluctantly. Privately, she doubted whether it was though.

"If it is though, what is to be done about it?" Phillipus asked softly.

Diana considered that for only about a second before she grew frustrated and decided she didn't want to think about it any longer. That maybe Phillipus had a point about ignoring words, at least for the here and now. So she got up to her knees and turned to face her lover and meet her eyes. She placed her hands on Phillipus's shoulders and pushed her back gently to the ground, conveying with her eyes what she wanted.

Phillipus was caught in Diana's eyes and very glad that she'd decided to end their conversation in favor of something far more easy and enjoyable. She had never been one who was overly skilled in matters of verbally communicating her emotions to a lover, having become far too practiced at keeping such things to herself over her long life. It was why she always had trouble keeping a lover for very long. Her lovers would invariably grow frustrated with the emotional distance between them and leave, or she would break it off before it got to that point when she saw it coming. With Diana though, she had opened herself up more to her than she had to anyone in... a very long time. And she was trying, trying very hard, to keep her from leaving. Because the truth was, no matter what she'd said, she was... frightened, perhaps even a little terrified... of the idea of Diana leaving her, even if it was only for someone else on the island... of how much she knew it would hurt to go through that.

Diana's lips were on hers--demanding, hungry--their hands exploring one another's bodies. Phillipus gasped as Diana broke the kiss and began to kiss her neck, then down further. She had loved this way once before. Only once. The one she had loved... When Antiope, sister of Hippolyta, had split from them before the exodus to Themyscira, her lover had gone with her, while Phillipus had reminded loyal to her queen, as she always had. Over the long years since, she had gone over that decision many, many times, wondering if she had chosen correctly or not. As Diana's lips closed on her tit and began to suck roughly, she felt shocks of familiar pleasure, yes, but her mind, refusing to quiet yet, wondered to herself if she was now at a similar moment of choice.

The trouble was, she did not know which choice would allow her to keep the one she loved this time. Should she insist Diana stay and risk it driving them apart, or support her desire to leave and risk her safety and the possibility that she would not return, or return and a different woman, one who she might ill recognize and who might no longer hold feelings for her the way she once had?

Before long though, Diana's attentions had driven such thoughts from her and she found herself completely focused on the here and now and wishing to enjoy her lover while she had her, for she had lived far too long to think that there were any guarantees of keeping her.

They spent much of the rest of the evening like that; making love, enjoying one another's company, both trying to forget what troubled them.

Later in the evening, they went out to the beach to watch the sunset together in one of their favorite spots. Epione and Mala joined them and Diana started a conversation about what the outside world might be like now. Epione and Mala each offered their own theories. Epione was more optimistic, saying that she's hopeful things had changed, while Mala told them that she hoped for the best for that place, but honestly felt it doomed to suffering, for women most of all (she brought up Aresia's story as evidence that the outside world had changed little in their time away), and that she was simply grateful to be so blessed as to be here and not there. Phillipus was mostly silent, only offering token replies.

Later still, the two lovers walked along the beach together under the dying sunlight and the half moon, Diana deciding to break the silence that had been growing between them.

"You were silent." She made the observation.

"...I'm not sure what I could have said." Phillipus admitted. "I don't know how to help you with this."

"You worry about me still, that much is plain to see.." Diana looked off down the beach towards the palace.

"How can I not? Your eyes when you talk of the world outside our home tell the tale all too clearly. They tell of where your heart truly lies, and I fear it may not be with us." Phillipus confessed. "Perhaps not even with me."

Diana stopped and Phillipus turned to face her. "So now it is your turn to cast shame, I see." Diana looked up to meet her lover's eyes. "You do not understand my feelings, nor I yours. No matter how I might wish it were otherwise." Diana turned away and walked over to a large rock to sit on. She looked and saw Phillipus coming to sit next to her.

"Tell me then, tell me of your feelings, sweet Diana. So that we may come closer to this true understanding that is lacking for us." Phillipus offered.

Diana studied her lover's eyes a moment, then looked to the sky. "Every time I fly there, yet turn away, I feel... shame. I feel..." She looked to Phillipus's eyes. "Less and less worthy of you."

Phillipus looked genuinely surprised. "How could you...? Diana." She took her lover's hands. "Help me understand. How could such a thing be? That you feel such things? Has someone... has someone said these unkind things to you, to make you doubt yourself?" She looked truly angry at the very thought.

Diana laughed. "No, no one has done any such thing. Though, I suppose, everyone, even you, has brought this on in me. But the fault is not yours or anyone else's but my own."

"Diana, sister, speak plainly, please." Phillipus urged.

"That's just the thing, just there. We call each other sisters, but are we truly so? You have all been tested together, proven yourselves. Proven yourselves fierce and noble--you all share this... this way about you. A shared memory, a shared past, some great trials you have fought through and... and earned your place here." Diana spoke.

"But not so you." Phillipus spoke the unsaid thought, understanding finally coming to her. Of course Diana might feel that way, she felt herself blind not to have seen it before now. It explained so much.

"Not so I." Diana repeated. "How can I not doubt myself, when I feel as though I don't yet _know_ myself? When I don't yet know as it is plain for me to see that you know of yourself--that you truly have courage, that you can honestly say to a lover that you would fight for her, suffer for her if need be, and know with confidence that it's so." Left unsaid was the fact that Diana had never felt physical pain or felt herself in any danger no matter how skilled her sparring opponent. Sword, spear, arrow, stone, ocean, fire--none could harm her in the least. Not once in her life had she ever felt physical pain; did not even actually know what it was in any real sense. She wondered if perhaps she even could _be_ challenged in a fight, could ever even suffer a wound at all... unless perhaps she fought a god or a goddess, and that seemed such an absurd thought to her. "You need not wonder of such things in others, only in me. Sometimes... sometimes I wonder, why you chose me? As your lover? I know I've asked before, but you never really answered. Surely another would have..."

Phillipus laughed a little, she couldn't help it. "You truly don't know, do you?" She asked quietly.

"Know what?" Diana asked in return. "When you look at me, what do you see that makes you love me?"

Phillipus smiled and sighed. "Only everything, that's all." She told simply, looking out over the ocean.

Diana was quiet then, and they sat there in the night with only the moonlight to see by. "I think, perhaps I should go." Diana finally spoke.

"Diana, why..." Phillipus stopped herself, and then looked over to her lover. "Why can't you simply..." She took her lover's hand in both of hers. "Can you not just... let yourself be happy here?"

"So far I have failed at that, it seems. In recent times, at least." Diana admitted.

"I know, and it saddens me greatly that... This is a blessed place Diana. The things you envy, they are not truly... They are not what you see in them--not things anyone should seek, least of all you." Phillipus touched Diana's face. "You asked what I see in you, so I will say: Among the many qualities that make you unquestionably desirable, one among them is that you are so... untouched. Perfect you might even say. You have no bad memories, none of the things you say you covet in us. It reminds me, perhaps, that I was once that way, a very long time ago. And when I look into your eyes, I suppose I feel that way again, if only perhaps fleetingly." She looked into Diana's eyes with great intent. "It is a singularly rare gift, Diana. Precious in any time or place. To have what you would so easily throw away? I suspect many here would gladly trade you their suffering for your lack."

Diana got up from the rock and looked out over the night ocean. "...I hadn't realized that you..." She spoke. "I think... I think perhaps I should be alone, for a time." She considered, not looking back to her lover as she started to walk inland towards the forest lands.

"Diana... Just... give it more time, please...?" She called.

Diana turned to her. "More time?" She asked.

"A few decades, maybe a century. Just stay, stay and try to let this place heal your doubts. I will--I can be enough for you. If you'll let me, I have to believe that." Phillipus spoke with passion.

Diana kept eye contact and walked towards her lover, giving her a soft kiss. "Thank you." Was all she said and then she was gone, Phillipus looking around in all directions and finding her nowhere. It was no use, she knew--with her gifts, Diana could be on the other side of the island already for all she knew.

Momentarily at a loss, Phillipus cast her eyes upon the palace and hung her head. "My queen, what am I to do with this daughter of yours?" She asked softly to the night, raising her head and walking off to go ask Hippolyta that question in person.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(to be continued)


	2. Some Things Should Be Broken

#2: SOME THINGS SHOULD BE BROKEN

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Diana flew high in the night sky, few clouds left about, the moon's light and that of the stars reflecting on the waters below. She looked up again, imagining she could see the storm barrier she knew was there but could not see at this distance unless she focused her eyes deliberately on it, which she did not want to do. She floated there for minutes on end, looking off into the seemingly endless night sky and thought to herself: What am I to do? Should she listen to her lover, and try to simply let time work it's magic upon her, or should she... should she listen to the call within her? And was it a call, or was she being a fool? Letting her own doubts about herself rule her where she would be wiser not to? Phillipus loved her, she would have to be blind not to see it was so. Wouldn't it be the proof of her heart's quality to honor that gift and stay for her when she was so wanted?

She sighed. If only the decision were a clear one. Her doubts had given birth to many children this night. She wanted to believe the best of her lover, but even there, Phillipus's words could be taken in a poorer light that she did not like to think on. How she longed to know for sure. To have a sense for this, to be able to tell what was truth from what was not.

She turned her back to the sky and flew to the spot she had met Phillipus on the cliff earlier in the day. She sat on the edge of the cliff there and just let herself think.

She hadn't realized how the time had passed when she saw the first rays of sunlight. Sighing to herself, she levitated up and alighted on the ground, deciding to walk back to her home. "I have decided then--I will stay." She told herself, having decided sometime during the night that she could not quite bring herself to say no to her lover's plea. Even if she were not quite sure of herself, she decided she had to believe in the one she claimed to be in love with--otherwise, what was the point of being in love in the first place? If you didn't believe, didn't trust enough to open yourself, you couldn't even have very good love making, could you? So she had to believe, otherwise, she'd be a coward, and that was the one thing she most dearly wished not to ever be.

She thought of going back to their home to tell her lover of her decision, but instead she decided on a whim to go somewhere else. And so, in seconds she found herself in a far off corner of the island. By the water there was a tower that hadn't been used in many years for anything but storage until Aresia had asked to have it for her own. She had wanted space for... _reflection_ , Diana remembered the word the blonde haired younger woman had used. Aresia had come to the island from the outside world, cast upon their shores in a shipwreck. She had had a terrible experience at the hands of men on the ship she had been a passenger on. She had seen her mother be ravaged and killed before her eyes. Diana found she could hardly imagine such things, even now. She understood the words meanings intellectually, but the fact of them just made so little sense to her.

She rang the bell by the door and waited a moment. "Aresia?" Diana called. "It's Diana, are you at home?" She asked, but got no immediate answer. She sighed and let herself float off a little, looking past the tower out to the ocean, listening to the waves. She had made friends with Aresia, had been one of the only ones who really had been able to (not that others hadn't tried of course), she closed herself off so much. They had even been lovers, once, if only for two nights. Aresia had cried the second night and told her she needed time and that she'd wanted to be alone. Diana had given her that, approaching her again in a few days. They'd stayed friends, but had never been lovers again, and in recent years Aresia had been keeping to herself more and more and Diana had let the friendship wane more than she probably should have, occupied with her own growing inner struggles and with a new lover as she had been.

"Diana?" Aresia's voice spoke, Diana turned and smiled to see her friend at the door. "Hi." Aresia smiled back a little shyly.

Diana floated down to the ground close to her friend and smiled more brightly. "You have a lover in your bed, I can see it in your face." She spoke her instant appraisal happily, hugging her. "And she makes you very happy." She assessed, standing back and looking into Aresia's eyes.

"She does..." Aresia admitted, tilting her head to the side a little and smiling just a bit indulgently to her friend. Diana had always had a way of being surprisingly perceptive where Aresia had been concerned. Sometimes Diana thought perhaps that was the reason they hadn't worked as lovers, that she'd seen too much of her friend too quickly and that had caused Aresia to shy away from her. "Would you... like to meet her?"

"If you want me to?" Diana asked, playing with her friend's hair a little.

Aresia took Diana's hand in hers and kissed it in a way that showed how she cared. "Come in then." She took Diana by the hand and led her inside and up the stairs to the top level of the tower and Aresia's bed chamber. The warm sea breeze blew in and the view was lovely--especially, Diana had to admit, if she looked over at the bed where a woman was opening her eyes and getting up in bed, smiling to them both disarmingly. Diana was surprised though, because... she'd never seen this woman before. She'd thought she knew everyone. True, there were thousands of women in Themyscira, but Diana had been sure she knew them all by sight, knew all their names, and had talked with them all at least a few times in her life, most a good deal more than that.

"Hello..." Diana offered, curiously looking this woman over and trying to decide if she were... trustworthy. It was a strange sensation, because she'd never seriously questioned whether or not she should trust anyone before, not aside from once many years ago when her wonderings one night had led her to a cave that had taken her to the afterlife, and that experience still felt as if it had been not entirely... real.

"Hello... Diana of Themyscira. It's a pleasure to meet you." The woman offered her hand, covering her chest with a sheet.

Diana took the hand and gently held it for a long moment, her and the woman's eyes holding one another's. Diana let go and looked over to Aresia who was just now sitting down on the bed next to her lover.

"This is Cassandra Colchis, she's a..." She looked over to her lover momentarily.

"Visitor. To your beautiful island." Cassandra told, getting out of bed and going to retrieve her clothes, giving Diana a view of her unclothed body. Nudity wasn't a taboo in Themysciran culture, though it was accepted to wear clothing in public. In a residence or on the beach it was very common to go unclothed if you preferred. This woman looked like she'd had to take a moment to decide between modesty and expediency, apparently having decided on the latter. Diana saw Aresia looking at her lover with obvious want as Cassandra got dressed and that made Diana smile, that she was at ease with herself enough to feel that way in front of her. She seemed... better. More comfortable in her own skin, Diana supposed.

"If you are, that would be a first to my knowing. Unless you are a goddess, but I've never heard of a goddess with your name." Diana spoke curiously, sitting down on the edge of the bed a little ways from Aresia. "How did you get here?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised where I've been, Diana... No, I'm no goddess. Though, like yourself, I'm not without... power. And you needn't worry over me with your friend. After all, would I have been able to come here at all had your goddesses wished to bar me?" Cassandra asked.

Diana just shook her head and smiled a little. "You are a wonder then." She told.

Cassandra titled her head to the side a little and smiled as though amused. "If you say so, I thank you for the complement." She replied, moving between Diana and Aresia to get back on the bed. Diana turned around and Aresia went to snuggle up to her lover against the headboard. "Come closer." Cassandra beckoned Diana.

Diana complied, taking off her sandals and moving to the center of the bed and crossing her legs. "You haven't been to see me in a while." Aresia commented. "Is it because of Phillipus... or because of me?"

Diana tilted her head down a little. Aresia was nothing if not too the point--even tactlessly blunt at times. It was another quality Diana liked in her. "Some because of Phillipus." She admitted, looking up to her friend. "None because of you. Mostly because of myself. I fear, besides time with my lover, I've been rather... anti-social, of late. Perhaps you could relate in some small way?" She teased Aresia.

Aresia smiled. "Me? Oh, never sister." She actually blushed, just a tiny little bit. Diana smiled at that. She was always acting... strong, in control around other people, but she wasn't like that when the two of them were alone. She was happy Aresia had found a lover she could show this part of herself around too. "So, um, what made you imitate me then? And, then, are you here for advice on brooding perhaps? I can give pointers." She offered playfully.

Diana saw Cassandra close her eyes and snuggle into Aresia's hair a little, sniffing her, at this. It was cute.

"No, I am as talented as I care to be in that area, thank you for your offering." Diana answered with a little of a smile. "But, what... made me your imitation, is a... _restlessness_. I wish to test myself, fly against the barrier. I wish it more and more as the days pass. But everyone tells me no. To give myself time. What do you think?" She asked.

Aresia was quiet a moment, thinking. "I think... maybe you should go. The outside world, they... there are probably a lot of young girls, women, out there, that you could help. But... it is... awful, and ugly. Not all perhaps, for a privileged few, but for the most part... I wish I could... I wish it could be like it is here, with no... men. Sometimes I dream about killing them. As though if I could travel through time, as I am now, and kill the men who murdered my mother. Save her from them--save everyone. But... it's your decision, Diana. I would, I would never tell you to leave your home, for a place like that."

Diana could see the anger, the hatred in her friend's eyes. She had seen that look in some of her other sisters' eyes when they talked about the before, but never so intense. It made her sad, but it also made her angry as well, that someone had put that look in her dear friend's eyes. "Thank you." Diana answered softly.

"For what?" Aresia asked.

"Many things." She simply replied with a small smile. "And what about you, mysterious visitor to a hidden land? What do you think I should choose?"

Cassandra looked to her. "Do what makes your heart... sing." She advised. "Is that to fly away, or stay with your lover here?"

Diana thought of it. "Both." She admitted.

"Which one more?" Cassandra asked.

"Differently. One is a wonder, one I won't know until I travel there. The other is... I am in love, but it is... fragile, I think. I fear it may break, easily." She admitted.

"Some things should be broken, Diana." Cassandra replied. "Some things, you smile just a little when you break them, don't you? And anyway, if this love of yours is worth having, it wouldn't break so easily as that, would it?" She offered. "Don't act, or fail to act, from fear. Fear is a monster Diana, to be beaten, bloodied and butchered, at every opportunity. Love makes your heart fly, princess of paradise, but it also makes it afraid of falling more than anything else."

Diana just looked at this woman and shook her head a little. "Unusual advice, but... worthy, none the less, I think." She admitted. "I will think on it. And I thank you as well. Now, tell me, if it would please you to, what is your story, that you come to our island so?" She was still curious, and she needed to think on the counsel that both of these women given a while.

Cassandra smiled and met Diana's eyes intensely. "I like that you can meet my gaze so easily." She complemented. "Not many can." She looked to the ocean and seemed to let her thoughts drift. "I am from the same homeland as your people, your sisters. Greece. I was born a long time before your mother and her sister colonized the Sapphic Isle though. I was born on another island. I was singularly gifted in the arts of magic. A long story made short: the magic inside me lets me neither age nor die. I've lived many lives, known many people, and now I am here. As for why? I visited once, many years ago, but found no peace here. I thought to perhaps give it another try. So far, it's going somewhat better than I'd expected." She kissed her lover.

"Does my mother know you are here?" Diana asked curiously.

"Only the three of us know that, I expect." Cassandra answered.

"Besides the goddesses." Diana allowed.

Cassandra laughed softly. "Well, I wouldn't presume to speak for them."

Diana smiled a little at the corner of her mouth, not quite sure what to make of this woman. She was hard to get a sense for really, more so than anyone Diana had ever met. She could usually get a feel for a woman the first time she laid eyes on them, that sense did not come so easily this time. She shook her head a little. If Cassandra were as old and as well traveled as she claimed, perhaps that explained it. Perhaps she was simply very complex inside? "Well, you've both given me much to think about, but I think I should leave my friend Aresia to further puzzle out the mysteriously beautiful woman she has taken to her bed, yes sister?" She asked Aresia, moving to get up from the bed and retrieve her sandals.

"A task I will thoroughly enjoy." She kissed her lover and then went to hug Diana goodbye.

"I wish you luck with your soul searching, Princess Diana of Themyscira." Cassandra gave Diana a hug herself. "I'm sure we will meet again."

"Yes, come back and visit... if you're not off... testing your limits." Aresia offered.

"I will. Should I leave, I will return at some point after all." She told, getting up off the bed and leaving.

Diana went down to the beach and took off her sandals again and carrying them with her by the straps to walk in the sand a while. No one usually came to this part of the island, let alone so late in the evening, so she was alone with her thoughts. After a while of walking, she sat down on a log and gazed out at the ocean, then a while after that, she took off her clothing and went for a swim. She thought perhaps her friend, Panopea of the Neriedes might be there waiting for her to play games with as sometimes happened, but she wasn't. She actually found herself glad of that though, the time by herself did seem to make her feel better. It gave her time and space to think.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Themyscira, morning the next day  
\-- 3271, 4th month, 15th day, Themysciran calendar --_

Elsewhere on the island, Phillipus sat in a lounge seat in the home she shared with Diana in the palace. She still had her own rooms, she supposed, but as things had developed between her and Diana, she had moved in with her and left her previous home vacant.

Diana hadn't come home last night... or, if she had, her love had left again before Phillipus had arrived. She wondered if Diana was off wondering about the island somewhere, even now, losing track of time... she did that at times lately, forgetting to sleep, forgetting to come home to her.

She'd talked at length with Queen Hippolyta about Diana and she'd confided her feeling and her fears with her, as much as she felt able to, and had sought her advice. She considered Hippolyta one of her closest friends, the one she most often turned to when in need of advice, and Hippolyta wholeheartedly approved of her as a match for her daughter. The advice and comfort she had received had not done very much to help her decide what she should do though. She still felt woefully inept in the role she found herself playing. She wished, more and more, that love could just be simple. It always felt that way starting out. With Diana especially, things had just fallen into place, right from the start... but of course, it hadn't lasted. She knew, for some perhaps it did. Her dear friends Menalippe and Penelope being the obvious shining example--the couple had been together, monogamous, for nearly as long as she'd known them and they never seemed to fall out of love or lose passion for one another. She'd never known them to have even a small argument for that matter--a fact that she was, actually, not just a little dumbfounded by if she were being honest, given her own life experience in this area. Her amazement at them not withstanding though, it did tell her very plainly that finding lasting love, lasting harmony and joy with another person, _was_ possible. It was just that she, apparently, had little talent for it.

It was then that Meda, one of her four captains, came in and asked if they could talk a while. Phillipus accepted. She and Meda had been lovers before, on and off. She'd lost count of how many times they'd gotten together and broken things off between them over the years, actually. Meda was apparently just as bad at long term relationships as was she. They'd always remained friends though. Of everyone on the island, she supposed Meda might just be the one who knew her most completely. Flaws and all.

"I'm not the only one troubled this morning, I see." Meda observed softly, sitting on the other end of the seat with her, facing her.

"No... What troubles you though?" Phillipus asked, actually more than happy to focus on someone else's troubles rather than her own.

"Clyce left me yesterday..." She admitted softly, shaking her head. She looked a little like she might cry actually.

Phillipus sat up more fully and moved over towards her friend, touching her hand. "I'm... very sorry to hear that." She comforted gently. It was downright depressing to her, in fact. Meda had been with Clyce for nearly the last forty years now, and she'd thought maybe they'd last. She'd been happy for her, despite that it had made her jealous at times, at least before she and Diana had gotten together.

Meda smiled charmingly to her. "It was good while it lasted." She replied simply. "But some things are meant to be broken, I suppose. Not so with our friendship at least." She squeezed Phillipus's hand.

"Never that." Phillipus smiled reassuringly to her.

"No, never that." Meda affirmed, sitting up and kissing the back of her hand softly.

"Meda..." Phillipus met her friend's eyes and was somehow lost in them. Lost in time. And, somehow, it was as though it were the first time for them. She remembered it, she felt it, felt her heart beat fast in anticipation of that first sweet kiss she knew was only moments away. They'd been friends so long, and she'd been there for her to help mend her broken heart after the exodus. Of course it made since that they should be lovers.

"Kiss me." Meda softly encouraged her.

Phillipus did so without reservation, leaning the willing woman back on the pillows and running her hands over her body.

"I am betrayed." She heard the soft, rough sounding words and stopped what she was doing, looking down into Meda's smiling face, a haunting darkness ghosted in her eyes. She got up, suddenly feeling herself again and realizing what she'd done. She looked over and saw Diana standing there, saw the tears on her cheeks and the devastated look in her eyes.

"Diana..." She looked over at Meda who now had an innocent, questioning look on her face--almost as though to say: _"What's the matter, what's wrong?"_ It made no sense. She looked back to Diana. "Diana, no... I didn't... that is I..." She was at a loss for what to say, how to explain herself.

"There is no need for words, my love. You were right. They don't matter as much as I'd thought they did." She told with quiet emotion as she turned to leave. She'd lost track of time, under the waves last night, only realizing her mistake when she'd seen the sunlight through the water. She'd felt guilty for not going home... Had she really been so inattentive as a lover though, so lacking, as to have not seen... this?

"Diana, no..." Phillipus tried again, but Diana was gone in an instant.

She sat down on her heels, stunned.

"You must feel very foolish in this moment, I imagine." Meda said.

"You..." Phillipus turned on her friend in anger, but it wasn't Meda who was there to meet her eyes, it was a woman she'd never seen before. "Who in Hades...?"

"Shh..." Cassandra spoke, touching Phillipus's face and moving to kiss her again.

The kiss was like a blow to the head from behind for Phillipus, she didn't see it coming and it laid her out cold before she knew what hit her.

"You've played your part in this lover's tragedy. Now is simply time for the next scene. Truth be told though, nether I not The Fates know it's seeming. She may come back to you yet, my pretty, brave, _foolish_ one..." Cassandra spoke to her before she disappeared from the room without a trace, almost as though she had never been there at all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Across the island, tears still falling, Diana found herself at her friend Aresia's door again, ringing the bell. Aresia answered more quickly this time; and, upon seeing how upset she was, immediately asked her to come in. They went up to her room and Aresia offered her all the comfort she could, telling her that it would be alright and that she'd find someone else who would be even better for her. Cassandra came in around then, and similarly offered comforting words. Diana told them both that she had made up her mind and was going to leave on her journey, through the storm barrier, to the world beyond.

Aresia told her that she supported her, but, again, warned her to guard against men, that they should not be trusted, that they were enemies. Diana asked Cassandra if this was so. Cassandra told her that Aresia spoke the truth, but that there were many truths in the world and that Diana would have to choose which ones were hers. Cassandra gave Diana a necklace with a small, clear crystal on it--she told Diana that if she ever needed her help, or a friend to talk with, to simply touch the crystal to her lips and speak and that she would hear. Aresia, for her part, gave her a pair of daggers to take with her. Ones blessed by Athena herself, which Hippolyta had given Aresia as gifts when she had completed her training as a novice warrior. Diana had at first refused the gift, knowing how much Aresia valued them, but Aresia insisted, saying she would not be able to forgive herself if she sent her off without weapons into the world of her birth. Diana relented and accepted one of the daggers only, wishing to set her friend's mind at ease, and saying she should keep the other one as a reminder of their friendship. Aresia agreed to the compromise.

Diana thanked her and hugged her friend and Cassandra goodbye and asked Aresia to tell her mother goodbye for her and to explain for her why she was leaving. Aresia promised that she would, and Diana left, up into the sky, flying up to dare the storm at last.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(to be continued)


	3. Yearning For Revolution

#3: YEARNING FOR REVOLUTION

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 _Paris, France, in the mortal world, Earth_  
_\-- 3270, 2nd month, 33rd day, Themysciran calendar --_  
_(over a year in the past)_

Remoni-Notra stood out on a hotel balcony in Paris, France. It was late evening, the sun had gone down, and a beautiful view of the Eifel Tower stretched before her and she sighed, staring off into the night at the small lights of the city.

 _What am I doing?_ She wondered to herself. She'd lost her sister, Tayori, years ago and she still felt so... hollow inside from it. For a time, she'd thought that love had redeemed her, but now her love was lost to her too, only adding to the lack inside her. But, she told herself stubbornly, Carol _wasn't_ dead. She wasn't, so there was still hope, wasn't there.

She stood up straight and took a long look at the tower in the distance and hoped that what the humans said about this city and that tower were true and that she would find love again here. She turned and went into the room, over to the telephone.

She didn't know Carol's number, but that wasn't a problem for her. Her eyes glowed softly and the phone dialed without being touched. One ring, two, three. "Hello, who is this?" Carol Ferris's voice came over the line. Remoni's heart beat faster, her body heating at the sound of that voice.

"...please don't hang up?" Remoni asked her softly. "Please?"

Carol sighed. "You just won't give up, will you?" She asked softly in return, sounding resigned.

"How can I?" Remoni asked. "You... you're all I have left, all I care about anymore... Just... I don't have any more pride left, alright? Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it. I'll change, I'll... I'll be who you _want_ me to be, I _swear it_ , just... just give us another chance?"

"Remoni..." Carol trailed off, the heartbreak in her voice giving Remoni hope. "I... No, just... just no. No. I've moved on, I'm with someone else, I... I can't trust you. I can't. That's not going to change... Too much has happened."

Remoni smiled a little of a hopeful, crooked smile. "Are you sure? I know I've been... bad to you a few times, but... you love me, and I love you. There's... there's nothing that can change that, I can't believe there ever will be. Please, just come back to me?"

There was silence for a few moment from Carol. "I can't do this again. Let me go, Remoni. Please, if you really do love me, then prove it... let me go."

The line went dead.

Remoni just sat there for a long two or three minutes, then she crushed the phone receiver in her hand as her hands curled into fists and her body glowed with violent light. She stood and took several long breaths and told herself five times that she was _not_ going to find and murder Zinda Blake for stealing from her the only reason she had left to live for. She was _not_ that kind of person... whatever Carol might think of her at the moment...

She sighed and let her hands unclench, dropping the bits of phone on the floor and sitting back down on the bed.

She sat there, head in hands and thought to herself.

Things had gone so, so very wrong. She'd told herself so many times that she was going to leave Carol Ferris alone. She'd tried to move on, to find other women to be her lover, but she'd never been able to give her heart to any of them the way she had to Carol, not even close. In the end, she always tried to get her back... again and again and again... and it always, always just... made things worse.

Even now, the star sapphire in her chest that lived in her heart stubbornly told her that all wasn't lost, that she could find a way, that love would always win through if she only _believed_ it would...

She knew, logically, that what she felt was at least partly simply a consequence of being bonded with a star sapphire in the first place. It took a fierce heart to deny the feelings your sapphire stirred in you. Carol had always been stronger that way... or maybe it was simply that she hadn't lost as much?

"I need to stop thinking about this is what I need to do." She told herself softly. She got up, commanded her clothes to change into something for a night out at a club, and went over to look at herself in the mirror. She ran fingers through her hair to straighten it out and tried to put on a brave smile and tell herself to think positively.

She'd go out, meet someone, dance, walk together in the starlight, maybe fall in bed with her. She could do this. She could give Carol what she wanted. She could... she could move on. She could be happy again. She could.

She closed her eyes and thought of Tayori again to give herself courage. It was a bittersweet sort of courage, to be sure, but no one else had ever been able to make her feel the way her sister had. No one else had believed in her that much... certainly not Carol, she considered bitterly.

She wanted to be furious at Carol for it too, but she never ever could, and maybe that was the problem. Whenever she even thought of Carol Ferris, all she wanted to do was... be with her.

She sighed, turned, and, feeling resigned and (despite herself) cautiously hopeful all over again was about to go out when a loud explosion shook the building, filling the night with a roar of sound.

Remoni turned and hurried out to the balcony again. Off in the distance, down by the river a few miles away, there was a newly formed pillar of smoke rising into the night air.

More than the desire to help, which she felt too, something out there, something inside herself told her she needed to go there. So, violet energy surrounding her and lifting her up into the sky, she changed into her Star Sapphire armor with another mental command and flew off towards the disaster.

The city lights flashed by in a steam of rainbow colors and she was there in but moments, shifting slightly out of tune with reality to make herself invisible and intangible to nearly anyone who might be in a position to see her.

In the rubble of a building, she saw two women in a pitch battle. One was wreathed in fire, had wings of pale blue, nearly white fire, her skin and hair were fire and she wore gold, white, and blue. Remoni recognized her from the local news as Firehawk, one of France's most well-known heroes. The other woman was dressed in purple and white, had long red hair, and was crackling with energy as she threw exploding blasts at her opponent.

Remoni, at first unsure what to do, watched as Firehawk dauntlessly cut through her opponent's attacks and knocked her back onto her knees with a concussive burst. As the woman was getting up, Remoni notice that the French national guard were arriving on the scene. "You're under arrest! Stop this now, I don't want hurt you!" Firehawk cried to her in French.

"Fool!" The woman spat. "If you don't want to hurt me, then simply don't. No one is forcing you to attack me, in case it's escaped your notice." She told her icily.

"Says the wretch who's just killed who's to say how many innocent people?" Firehawk challenged as a very imposing man in a cape flew down to hover by Firehawk's side. Remoni recognized him too, and it wasn't good news for the woman in purple, not at all--his name was Dr. David Conner, better known to the public at large as the Eradicator. And, unlike Firehawk, that wasn't a 'codename', it was what he was. Just as Remoni herself was a Star Sapphire (one of many throughout the universe), Connor was human being who'd been changed by no choice of his own into a Kryptonian designed weapon of war. That he'd been able to, for the most part, master his nature and even find love with the woman next to him was, in Remoni's estimation, an impressive thing indeed. Much as the idea of men and woman actually forming relationships like that and even falling in love together still seemed so very alien to her. On her home planet of Pandini, it was rare for a man and a woman to even form anything like a friendship (though she had actually formed something close to a friendship with a man once, the man she'd sold stolen goods through back on her homeworld). It was unheard of all together for them to become lovers. She knew, intellectually, that it was hardly uncommon in the rest of the universe (on Earth it was actually more common than same gender couplings, and on some other planets that was even all the coupling anyone did actually), and she'd been slowly training herself not to recoil in disgust from the sight of it. She'd mostly gotten it out of her system by now, but it was an ongoing struggle nonetheless.

"Innocent?" The woman scoffed, looking around her warily, obviously very aware of the fact that she was hopelessly outmatched now. There were two others among the French troops with meta abilities--Fleur de Lis, Laura Neilsen (the Silver Sorceress), and Zachary Zatara. Unless she could teleport, Remoni didn't give her much of a chance at all of evading imprisonment or death, and she was not acting like someone who could teleport would in a situation like this. "And a soldier is innocent when he murders just because it is war and he is only following orders I suppose? The men and women who worked here were guilty, as guilty as you! Don't fool yourselves into thinking anything else! You are the criminals, not me! This government of thieves and despoilers and oppressors are the criminals, and you are either complicit by choice or ignorant fools who don't know any better." She told her icily. "I refute you, one and all." She told them, energy crackling around her and building in force so that the earth around them started to tremble.

"She's going to trigger another event--contain her, now!" Fleur de Lis called.

Dr. Connor moved and, in the blink of an eye, he'd tackled the woman to the ground and was covering her with his body. Neilsen and Zatara were casting magic and Firehawk was generating an energy perimeter that Remoni guessed was intended to direct any fallout upward instead of outward... the woman herself was the weapon that had destroyed the building, Remoni was belatedly realizing.

Her words, the look in her eyes when she'd spoken though, they had cut her. She remembered feeling that was on Pandini after her sister's death... she remembered the things she'd done to avenge her, to try to right the wrongs of her society that had led to Tayori's death... had someone been taken from the woman before her as well? Someone she'd loved...?

The explosion came then and the ground shook, but Connor's body and the magic held, Firehawk's energy barrier unnecessary after all. The woman though, she was... just gone. Remoni moved forward, feeling loss strike through her heart, but she stopped, the sapphire inside her telling her that, against what her eyes had seen, the woman wasn't dead. And, indeed, as she watched, energy coalesced and was forming itself back into the shape of a woman. Silver Sorceress cast a spell about her though and the woman was restrained in magical bonds even as she materialized again.

Seeing her bound like that though decided Remoni. She held out a hand and struck, overwhelming Laura Neilsen's mind with memories and emotions, intensifying every feeling of love she'd ever felt and showing it to her all at once, making her faint in Fleur's arms. They were a couple, Remoni could have spotted it a mile away, and the jealousy she felt for what they felt for one another was impossible to deny, visions of Carol and that same familiar longing she'd never been able to shake assaulted her full force. A mistake. She shouldn't have attacked Laura Neilsen that way.

"Someone else is here." Dr. Connor spoke, his eyes searching and locking onto Remoni, staring right at her. "There."

"Laever tahw si neddih!" Zatara cast his backward spell, forcing Remoni back into sync with reality.

Battle-tested instincts took over and Remoni reacted to the attack, gagging Zatara with a violet light construct, moving to the side to avoided Connor's heat vision attack, blocking Firehawk's fire with an energy field and using it to connect with the woman who the fire was a part of. Their eyes met, and Firehawk stopped fighting, stepping back and looking at her, love-struck. Connor turned to look at his lover and Remoni struck, encasing him in a stasis crystal. She didn't know if it would hold him. It would hold any human, but she knew he wasn't human, and there was more than emotion inside him, there was also... programming. It made her shiver a little to feel even just the echoes of it, and she felt sorrow for him for having a burden like that on his soul.

Fleur and the national guard opened fire on her with their guns, but they'd need more than firearms to do her any harm. The magical restraints still held the woman who'd started all of this, and their eyes met then and Remoni gasped a little at the connection she felt with her. She went over to her, shielding her from the guard's attack as well, standing before her and using her light to dissipate the magic holding her.

"Would you like me to take you away from all of this?" She asked, unable to help herself from giving her an openly flirtations smile.

The woman smiled back, a little hesitant, but clearly interested and obviously more than a little amazed that someone had come to her rescue this way. "Please do." The woman replied, stepping closer to her.

Remoni did what felt natural and closed the distance between them, taking her in her arms and kissing her. The connection between them she'd felt before flared and flooded Remoni with new power, and, just like that, they were gone, teleported back to Remoni's hotel room across town. She couldn't usually teleport like that, only when she had a real, true connection to another heart. Not necessarily true love--an honest mutual passion for one another would do, something that had the potential to be more if nurtured over time.

Oh, this was going to be so, so much trouble, she just knew it was.

The kiss broke and she stepped back, seeing confusion, wanting, and wariness in the woman's eyes. "Who, um, who are you?" The woman asked in a soft, breathy sort of voice, feeling unsteady on her feet and very much like she wanted to throw Remoni onto the bed and do what one did on a bed when she had another beautiful woman to share it with.

Remoni smiled to her, already able to sense her thoughts and feelings because of the heart-tether they'd made together. Was the connection a reciprocal one yet, Remoni wondered? "My name is Remoni-Notra, I'm a Star Sapphire. I'm from a world called Pandini... You're... very beautiful, you know?" She told her, offering her another smile. "What's your name?" She asked.

The woman swallowed. "Bette... Bette Sans Souci. Why... You saved me from them, thank you. But, why did you?"

"I heard the explosion. We're just across the city, in my hotel room by the way... Something told me to go. I wanted to help, if someone were hurt, but then... I saw you and I heard what you said. I couldn't let them hurt you, I had to help."

"What I said? You, you believe in my cause?" She asked softly. It was a terrible thing to be alone in your convictions, Bette thought. From her beginnings in Quebec, Canada to here had been an exercise in loss, one after another. She'd had friends once, been part of a movement, even found a lover once, but now... now she was alone. Could she really trust, believe, that someone had heard her? That someone understood? That someone might care?

Remoni was silent. "I had a cause like yours once, I think. It wasn't... It wasn't out of any selfless belief, or it might have partly been, but mostly... mostly it was because the government on my world, the law keepers, they murdered my sister with no just cause at all. Not that I would have forgiven them if they'd _had_ just cause. The two of us, we had no one else, not really. I had to make them pay, I _did_ make them pay... I don't know what I believe anymore... I just know that I had to help you." She told her honestly. She wasn't usually one for honesty when a sweet lie would do, but she was trying to mend her ways, wasn't she?

Bette smiled just a little. "At least you're honest." She told her.

Remoni smiled, moving closer to her. "Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm usually not. Most people would tell you I'm nothing but trouble in fact, are you worried?" Games and flirting and seduction, she really was far too good at them, far too addicted to them for her own good. Carol would certainly tell anyone that if asked, and she'd probably be right too... Still, she honestly didn't think that made her a bad person, not really. And she was trying to be better, truly she was.

Bette swallowed and felt lost in the eyes before her, still glowing softly with violet light. "I'll risk it." She told Remoni, moving forward to kiss her. She felt hot all over and she didn't want to be cautious. Remoni was beyond beautiful, her voice was like a siren's, her touch, her eyes... She wanted to feel loved, and, honestly? Right now? She was so keyed up on adrenaline and hormones that she kind of just wanted sex until she passed out from it. Whether or not she woke up alone or not, whether this was a one-night stand or the start of something more, that was a question for the morning.

Bette's hands slid possessively over Remoni's body, chests crushing together, and the intent was obvious and so very welcome. The sapphire in her chest swelled with power and the need of it, the naked passion she felt overtook her like a title wave and she in no way attempted to stop it. Violet light welled up from her, surrounding them both, transforming their clothing into energy and bathing them both in it.

Bette gasped and felt herself go weightless, lifted off the ground... It didn't even feel like they were defying gravity, it felt like gravity was just gone, the only trace of it left was the gravity between two bodies with souls inside reaching out blindly for one other. She felt herself opening up inside, felt a passion not her own and gasped again, parting the kiss, her eyes opening wide.

"Shh, shh... it's okay, I'm sorry. I guess I came on too strong?" Remoni asked.

"What was that?" Bette asked, trembling a little. She felt so... exposed... She usually didn't like feeling that way, feeling so vulnerable, but she didn't pull away. Instead, she felt safe, loved... like the world really could be beautiful...

"The violet light of love. My power." She told her softly. "The power of a Star Sapphire... We have a strong connection, even as new as it is. I've been... I've been alone too long, without this, without someone..." She spoke with a soft shyness, not wanting to drive Bette away. She ran her hands over Bette's soft skin, over her back and hips. "Hey... You're safe with me. Always, I promise." She didn't know if the promise was true or not, but... she wanted it to be. That had to count for something, didn't it?

Bette felt tears start to form, but she denied them and hugged Remoni to her, breathing and feeling the emotions that were running through her. She remembered what Remoni had said before, about how she usually wasn't honest. Was it a lie? And, did it... did it really matter? She pulled back a little and met Remoni's eyes. "Just fuck me, alright?" She asked, almost pleaded. She didn't have the strength to say much of anything else right now.

Remoni smiled a little wickedly and then she had Bette flat on her back on the bed, energy flooding her, sending pleasure through every inch of her body. "It may not feel like it right now, but... you're in control, and nothing will happen between us that you don't want. I'm here for you, I really am..." She told her softly as she trailed a hand down, down between Bette's legs, gliding over her clit. Her own people didn't have them, clits, but she had more than enough experience with Earth women by now to know just what to do. And love making was really another way of communication, or partly it was anyway, and her sapphire let her communicate with anyone whose heart was open to her. She couldn't help it and didn't want to, she knew just _exactly_ what to do, just _exactly_ the way Bette wanted to be touched... Bette arched her back up under her and Remoni thrilled, sliding her fingers softly over the ridges of her opening, feeling it wet for her. She wanted to taste it, but was content to take her time and save that pleasure for later... She planned to have this woman again and again and again tonight, as many times as she would be given.

Bette felt Remoni's fingers start to slide into her and she tried hard not to climax just from that. How was she doing this? No one... no one had ever touched her like this, made her _feel_ like this... She felt other things too, she felt like her own hands were in more than one place at once, felt her own fingers slide into Remoni's need, felt that she was indeed an alien from another planet. Remoni had no clit, but, inside her folds, there was ridge line like flexible bone traveling back along the roof of her and curving down in fading ribs along the sides and she knew how to touch them, how to do everything... no doubt, no worry, it was amazing and thrilling and beyond her ability to comprehend, especially feeling how she was feeling now.

Remoni gasped and shuddered from being stroked so... She'd opened her heart to Bette's and given her mutual control over the light in her heart and Bette had taken it with such wonderful talent... She felt so close, she crushed her lips against Bette's and ground their chests together as they started to really rock into each other in earnest, Remoni stubbornly forcing herself not to think about Carol doing this with someone else who wasn't her, and then they were both just gone from it. Remoni gasped and broke the kiss as they rocked and rocked. She burred her face in Bette's long red hair and cried out her lover's name softly, again and again.

Bette let out a long breath and felt the most relaxed and sated she could... ever remember being really. Remoni held her and was kissing her softly on her neck, saying sweet, flattering words every now and then, things that made her smile and shiver with wanting. She found herself throwing caution to the wind for no other reason than she just couldn't resist it. She gently rolled her lover over onto her back and looked down at her, the delighted, welcoming, trusting smile on Remoni's lips, in her eyes, was so genuine and uncomplicated that it took her breath away. She moved in and kissed her. "You're amazing..." She found herself whispering. Remoni laughed softly just a little and it thrilled her.

"Likewise." Remoni spoke, just kissing this woman back. Bette's hands were sliding over her arms, to her wrists until they were holding hands, Bette holding her down to the bed as they kissed more and more... Her eyes were closed and her body was so alive as she and Bette touched each other with hands and fingers made of energy. Bette had taken to it so easily too, and she was still so hot all over, so wanting... They didn't stretch things out as much this time either, just built their passion up steadily until Remoni found herself arching her body in another release as Bette held her firmly down to the bed. It felt so good and, in the afterglow, Remoni realized with a relieved smile that she hadn't thought about Carol even once that time. She laughed a little. "I think you're going to be good for me."

"Just... good?" Bette asked, liking that she was doing a little of the seduction now.

"No..." Remoni replied, moving up to kiss her softly before laying back down with a very pleased smile on her lips. "Never."

Bette's heart raced at the smile. She felt this... energy between them. It was like nothing... nothing she could have ever dreamed of. She wanted more, needed more. She let go of Remoni's hands and kissed her again, tangling her hands in her hair and rolling around on the bed with her, just grasping and needing and drunk on passion.

Remoni liked this game, so, so much. She liked it more when she won too, smiling down at Bette and seeing the surrender there and kissing her softly, melting into her again to make it a very mutual surrender. She kissed long and lazy and then, in time, broke the kiss, trailing yet more kisses down until she was at Bette's nipples, taking one into her lips and licking at it, doubling herself with an energy construct of a second head, neck, and shoulders so she could attend to both nipples at once. One of Bette's hands tangled in her hair to hold her close, the other was at her back and more hands besides between them in energy form.

Bette arched her back and cried out softly. This was driving her so wild, she could barely think anymore besides just the wanting that it never stop. How was this woman doing such things to her? How was she herself reciprocating this way...? Oh, and then just when she thought she could take no more, Remoni's lips left her nipples and went down further still, Remoni turning around and going down on her, burying her face between her thighs, her tongue teasing at her clit at first and then drinking of her and then Bette noticed something, that Remoni's pussy was suspended over her and she swallowed and just needed it, needed to taste her, to have her... She moved up, grabbing her lover's ass and bringing Remoni's pussy down close so she could lick and taste and drink and suck...

It had been so long since life had felt so simple and so very right, Remoni felt as though she had been slowly starving, barely subsiding day to day since Carol had turned away from her. Now she finally felt right again, and she wanted nothing but to feel, to let the fledgling connection swell and crest inside her. Bette was still closed off inside in so many ways, she could feel them, and of course she was. Trust, love, it wasn't something that happened all at once. Even for someone with the power of a star sapphire... perhaps _especially_ for someone with that power, love wasn't ever going to be any easy thing. It was the most terrifying thing that ever was and ever would be, but, if she'd learned anything in her life, it was that it was also the only thing that really mattered at all. It was the _reason_ , the reason for _everything_. She believed that, had faith in it, even if scared her, and even if, most of the time, she felt like she barely understood it, in any real sense at all. But it was what it was, this was what it was, and she was here and all she could do was live and hope to be better tomorrow than the day before. Bette rolled them around again so Remoni found herself on her back again, Bette sucking on her, then sliding her tongue hard down the ridge inside of her, pressing hard as she moved up and down, up and down, so slow... She groaned and was gone, lost in an orgasm that seemed to just last and last, feeling and tasting the explosion of hot desire in her mouth as she swallowed and licked Bette's pussy as they rocked together.

Bette felt like a thing on fire, a passion thing, lost to thought and slowly starting to drift on a sea of pure satiation... and not simply of the physical kind either--emotionally, spiritually she felt that way too, in this amorphous and vaguely intimidating sort of way... Still, as disquieting as it was in some ways, she wasn't about to try talking herself out of enjoying her current situation--after all, a short time ago, she'd started to greatly suspect she'd be in custody of the French government by this point, on her way to some gulag with the 'proper' technology to countermand her meta-human ability. Not that she'd had any intention of giving up without fighting to the very last of her strength of course, but, honestly, she hadn't expected that many meta-humans to arrive on-scene so quickly--just Firehawk or the Eradicator would have been possibly too much for her to handle, but both at once and more beside? All she could have hoped for was to make an escape. She couldn't have possibly triumphed against them. Not unless she had help too... and, who knew, maybe, if she could convince the woman next to her of the rightness of her cause, just maybe she _wouldn't_ be alone next time. She smiled at the thought and lay back on the bed, bonelessly relaxed. And, come to that, _how_ exactly had she wound up on her back again? She'd been on top last, hadn't she? Oh, it didn't matter. She still had Remoni's taste on her lips, a taste she couldn't name, but had very much enjoyed. Her lover was still licking her gently between her thighs and sending soft aftershocks of delight all through her body... she felt like she was glowing from the inside out. Lazily, she raised a hand and looked at it, seeing a soft sapphire glow radiating from inside of her. She gazed at it in wonder as Remoni tapered off her delights and came to cuddle up next to her and capture her lips in a kiss. She met the kiss and was more than happy to let herself be caught up in minutes on end of kisses and gentle caresses.

Bette found herself laughing softly some long minutes later as Remoni kissed her neck with an elegant grace that was wholly decadent, unquestionably enjoyable, and, frankly, just completely ridiculous.

"What?" Remoni asked softly, getting up a little and looking down into her eyes, a heartbreakingly, addictively gorgeous smile on her lips. It just wasn't fair for any woman to be able to smile like that. To be so cute, so sexy, so... disarming.

"Oh, nothing. It's simply, don't you think it might be wise for us to talk a little more as some point?" Bette asked, unable to keep a playful smile from her lips.

"Oh, absolutely we should, but..." She moved closer and effortlessly caught her up in a kiss that Remoni fully intended to drive Bette out of her wits with. "I simply think the morning would be _by far_ the better time for it." She told her, breaking the kiss by degrees and then looking with barely disguised passion and hunger down into her lover's eyes. "Oh, it's quite possible you could persuade me otherwise of course... but... are you really so sure that's what you want?"

"I... Well, perhaps... not as sure as all that...?" Bette replied helplessly, feeling her libido again flaring to life and demanding things of her that she was all of the sudden anything but in any mood to want to deny. And then Remoni smiled to her again and any chance of her mounting any further resistance was gone as if it had never been there at all. That smile of hers, it really had to be the most overtly _tempting_ sight Bette had ever seen... She highly doubted anyone, man or woman, would possibly say no to Remoni if she smiled to them this way, not unless they had the willpower of a _saint_.

Perhaps it wasn't exactly fair, Remoni mused to herself as she and this new lover of hers started on the very enjoyable engagement of having their way with one another again. She knew well enough how wickedly talented she was at seduction, having made something of an art of it in her free time back on her own home world... and. with a star sapphire gem in her heart, she was fairly certain that any woman she sat her sights on would be hard pressed to find any good reason to say no to a night in bed with her, but... well, she supposed the truth was it wasn't really fair to herself either.

As much as she felt more right with herself in Bette's arms than she had since Carol had left her, she was still ravenous for more... Oh, she knew she could force herself to stop if she really wanted to, just like she knew very well that Bette wasn't doing anything she didn't very much want to do either (a star sapphire gem could be used to manipulate emotions almost as easily as it could to connect and empower them, but she'd never used hers in that way with a lover, only against her enemies), however that didn't mean that all the doubts Carol had left her with weren't plaguing her still to some extent, even now. Seduction and playing games, using them to avoid difficult topics... an inability to truly let herself be open with someone else verbally and not just physically or emotionally? Carol had accused her of that and more, and had been _justified_ in doing so... She didn't _want_ to be like that though. She'd tried again and again not to be. To be someone else, someone better, someone good, someone... real... but, sadly, it seemed she just wasn't there yet, apparently.

Oh well. Maybe she'd have better luck in the morning? Or, failing that, perhaps the next morning, or the next?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 _Paris, France, the next morning_  
_\-- 3270, 2nd month, 34th day, Themysciran calendar --_

Bette woke the next morning feeling very content, cozy warm under the sheets with a beautiful woman snuggled up close to her, her lover's breath caressing the skin over her neck softly and sending good feelings all through her body. She ran a hand curiously over the soft skin over her lover's arm. It took her more than a few moments to really orient herself to the waking world again. To remember where she was, who she was with, what unlikely yet fortunate events had happened that she'd ended up here now. It was strange, Remoni... that was her name, Remoni-Notra... from the planet Pandini, she'd said... her skin didn't feel exactly human, did it?

It was silky soft and very warm and pleasant to touch, but there was a definite sense of power there too, strength. She'd felt hints of it as they'd made love. Not 'super-strength' or anything much above normal for a human in peak physical condition probably, but there was a sort of coiled force there, unlike what any human body would be constructed to exert. The ways she moved were noticeably different too, there was a supple grace to them that she couldn't quite define. And her bone and muscle structure were different too, _similar_ to human, but definitely different. She was warmer than the human norm by a few degrees at least too... Bette's abilities let her sense things like that, temperature and several types of energy patterns. Not exactly an exact thing, but she more just had a sense for things like that, and she could easily sense what a dynamo of power her lover had within her--vast and mysterious and running deep. It didn't rage or strain it's bonds like Bette constantly felt her own power doing inside her.

Since she'd gained her abilities, Bette had always had this... low thrum of potential energy inside her. It, thankfully, didn't push so much that she could let it loose unintentionally, but it was always there, just waiting for her to indulge it, to let it out.

It introspective moments like this, she sometimes wondered to herself if part of the reason she was so dedicated to her path in life, so driven, was because it gave her an excuse to feel what it felt like when she did let the power inside her loose... it wasn't addicting, she was aware enough of herself to be at least _mostly_ sure of that, but it was... _freeing_. In those moments when her body flooded with colliding energies and exploded, becoming living destructive force, she wasn't... human anymore. She was just energy and potential unbound, and all of the worries and fears and troubles and memories she knew as a flesh and blood human woman never seemed to matter in the ways that they did otherwise. It those moments, she felt, in part, like she was someone else entirely, something above or apart from the life she normally knew... though she was still, essentially, herself... perhaps even more herself than she ever could be as a physical being, or, she sometimes wondered, perhaps less...? Perhaps it... separated her too much? Made her feel too apart, too different?

She remembered what Firehawk had accused her of, had called her... _"The wretch who's just killed who's to say how many innocent people?"_ Oh, she knew those people _weren't_ innocent. People always had the same excuses: I'm just doing it to survive, to feed my family, to get by. I'm just one person, I'm no one special, I don't have a say, I can't make a difference, the problems are too big, what can I do? It's the leaders who make all the decisions, it's just the way things are, I'm just a soldier, a worker, a citizen, I'm just following the law, following orders, following the rules... utter trash, all of it. Useless, vile excuses that anyone who had any real, honest sense about them could see through without any difficulty if they only had the courage to look at the world, at people, the way they really _are_. A coal plant was unnecessary, harmful to humanity and the Earth we lived on, there were plenty of other ways to solve the problem, the only thing it did was make money for the corrupt governments and the rich who bought and sold them on the backs of the poor and future generations while keeping the people enslaved and suffering. It was a such pathetically simple math any child should be able to work it out, but full grown adults just blithely ignore it and pretend they're blameless? Oh, the people who were foolish or complicit enough to actually _work_ there deserved their deaths, she had _no_ doubt. Or, little enough doubt anyway...

But, even still, she wondered if she'd become too cold to it? Too numb to taking lives? Was she in danger of becoming the wretch, the monster so many must think her to be? She turned her head and felt her lover's hair, took in the scent of her, and very much hoped not.

And... then again, maybe it wasn't the way her power made her feel, so much as the simple truth that she'd been more and more alone in recent months, more and more isolated. She was far from being anything like an expert on the human mind, but she knew enough to know that isolation was destructive... to anyone. The more alone you were, the more the darkness inside everyone started to take hold of you...

She'd been in prison, for more than seven months... locked away, no visitors except a therapist (whom she'd despised), occasionally her aunt Camille, and, of course, the prison guards. Finally, there'd been a breakout and a riot and she'd escaped in the melee... but, sometimes, at night, she still felt like she'd never really left. The thought that she'd come so close to going _back_ there, or to a place like it, yesterday...

Remoni had saved her though, and here she was... She was grateful, but... did she dare trust this though? Trust _her_? She certainly had last night...

Remoni stirred then, or started too, and sensed Bette was troubled... not how she was troubled, but simply that she was. So she had a choice: talk or seduce her again... She wavered internally for a few long moments then started to kiss the skin of her lover's neck, hoping that she could begin to chase those troubles away that way. It would, she reasoned, at least put her in a better mood when the talking inevitably came at a later time. That was being altruistic, wasn't it?

Bette sighed and arched her back. She should say something, she really, really should _say_ something. _Anything_ , really. But, well, then Remoni's hand closed around one of her breasts and words entirely failed her. Remoni captured her lips in a kiss the next moment and they were moving against each other in a way that seemed far too familiar to her than it should after having spent only one night with this woman and not even having had much of any proper conversation with her at all. Not that she'd ever really been averse to or above the idea of a one-night stand that was light on conversation, but this felt like something quite outside of a simple grasping need for intimacy or company. This felt like... like it could be the start of a love story. Decidedly not of the _typical_ kind, perhaps, but a love story nonetheless... and that wasn't a bad thing to feel. It had been far too long for her since she'd felt that way about anyone, after all... not since Crystal Frost anyway...

Remoni felt her lover's easy surrender and smiled to herself, feeling smug and very self-satisfied. She loved, loved, _loved_ having her way with a woman. She'd almost forgotten how much she loved it, since Carol. She hadn't really let herself _enjoy_ it this way since then. That only confirmed to her that she'd found someone special in the woman beneath her, and she was going to keep her this time, she was going to win her and keep her this time. She wasn't going to fail her like she'd failed Carol, never again was she going to let herself do anything of the kind. She slipped a hand down between them to start to tease at Bette's center and the smug feeling flared again as she felt how wet she already was for her.

That same energy was all around them again, and Bette found it strangely second nature already to slip into it, form it and act through it. She hardly had to think about it, she just seemed to _feel_ it. She felt Remoni too, vaguely, just... hints of her. Her passion, her emotions, her heart... She thought that if she pushed, she might be able to feel more, but she couldn't bring herself to want to try. She just let herself get lost in the feeling of Remoni's body sliding against hers, of caressing and pleasing her and being given the same in return. It was more than enough. It was amazing, in fact...

Soon, all too soon, Remoni had her lover on the verge and wild for her, and she was right there with her. She wanted to draw it out just a little more, but sensed Bette wanted satisfaction _now_ , and so she gave in and began to thrust her fingers into her, once, twice, three times, four... Bette's fingers inside her matched her in counterpoint, thrust for thrust... then they were gone together, floating, pushing against one another in need. Remoni felt the sapphire gem in her heart drinking in the power of it, growing stronger, making her _stronger_ , making her feel nearly _complete_ again... and, _long_ minutes later, as the afterglow fell over her like a cocoon of all things good and right, she captured Bette's lips again, kissing her, _hungry_ for her, hungry for more... more, more, _so much more_...

Bette gasped as she felt the energy between them like a closed circuit, felt Remoni kissing her, pressing her down against the bed, almost demanding in her need, and she struggled against it, against herself, forcing herself to not get lost, to... to push her away... "Stop, please... please just stop..." She spoke in a small, breathy voice, praying Remoni would listen, because she wasn't at all sure she'd be able to say the words again, to resist if Remoni kissed her again...

Remoni almost did, Bette's resistance was weak at best after she'd pushed her away, she could sense it, just a little push and she'd have her again, take her again... what was so wrong with that? They both... but then, reason, a small shard of reason, and memory, took hold and she stopped herself inches from her lover's lips and sighed. "I'm sorry..." She spoke softly, meeting Bette's eyes. "I do tend to let my passion get the better of me sometimes, don't I?"

"I'd... I'd say so..." Bette replied, offering her and uncharacteristically shy smile. "Not that I mind, really, but... you did say we would talk this morning, after all. You wouldn't want to break your word to me, would you?"

Remoni smiled, delighted. "You don't know me at all, to say a nonsensical thing like that." She moved forward and whispered to her conspiratorially. "According to many, I'm a very unscrupulous individual... with far too few redeeming values."

"And... do you think they're right? About your values?" Bette asked, meeting Remoni's eyes and imagining that she could tell the other woman was putting on a front for her, more than anything. The question was, would the woman above her trust her enough to let down a few of those walls and show her something of the woman underneath or not. Somehow, she wanted her to. A lot. As dangerous as she knew desires like that could be.

Remoni sighed and lay her head down next to Bette's on the pillow, running fingers over the soft, muscled skin of her lover's hip and ribs. "Who's to say....?" She answered honestly. "I think I've acted in good faith, where it matters, and acted in _bad_ faith where it matters too... most of the time anyway. My last... I've been in love with two women in my life, you should know... One is dead, and one... one probably has enough reason to really _hate_ me by now. Not that I think she actually does, for all that she wants nothing to do with me anymore and for all that I've had, shall we say, a difficult time learning to accept that fact... What I'm getting at here is, well, perhaps, to answer your question: no, I'm not an unscrupulous individual at all, but... neither am I a safe bet. Does that help?"

Bette was looking up at the ceiling, thinking about what Remoni had just said. "...It does. It... tells me we're probably quite alike, in fact. I couldn't tell you if that's a good thing or not though." She smiled a little, turning her head. Remoni got up a little and looked down soulfully into her eyes at that. "I'm very willing to find out though." She told her softly.

Remoni smiled, knowingly and very charmingly. "As long as I join your cause, you mean? Fight the good fight, as the United States of Americans say?"

Bette looked up into those eyes and swallowed, feeling all kinds of things. Naked and exposed and at Remoni's mercy being among them... not that a large part of her entirely minded the feeling. A large part of her thought she might not mind feeling that way all the time in fact. "I'd be lying if I said the thought hadn't occurred to me..." She told her, touching her face and hair in a caress.

"Tell me about them then... these ideals of yours? This cause you fight for?" She asked softly, her libido not actually entirely caring that much by this point. But, thankfully, she wasn't _entirely_ ruled by her emotions or even her sex drive... though she _did_ delight in indulging them whenever she had a decent opportunity, because, of course, she probably wouldn't have been chosen as a star sapphire if she didn't have something of a strong predisposition for all things related to love and passion.

Bette's eyes visibly brightened with purpose and passion as she began her reply. "I don't know how long you've lived here, on Earth? But as a lifetime resident, let me tell you, we've got no end of problems here..." She told her. "The rich? The powerful? Take that coal plant I demolished today--it pollutes the air, the water, or it did, until I tore it down. There are plenty of other, better ways to produce electricity. And there are plenty of resources to feed, clothe, and house every homeless man, woman, and child in this country, in the world at large for that matter, but the rich and the corrupt in the government and in the realm of private business, they just take and rape and pillage the world for their own sake. They don't even care that it's going to ruin the world for their own grandchildren... and people, most people, they don't even really see what's happening... or, if they do, they don't feel like they have the power to stop it. Whether they do or not, it's a hard thing, for so many reasons. And maybe there's just too much wrong that it's impossible to make it right. But I'm still going to try. I... I think we could do a lot more, make the world a better place, if I had your help." She finished her impassioned plea in a soft voice, willing Remoni to see her, to see her heart, to understand, and... and to take her side.

Remoni sighed. "Alright then." She told her, feeling apprehensive, and more than a little scared to be putting herself out there for something like this, for a sort of cause she'd thought she'd seen the last of. She'd promised Carol once, that she wouldn't... wouldn't do things like this anymore. And it had been an easy promise, because she'd _wanted_ to put all of that behind her so badly, all of it except Tayori's memory. And she had kept her promise, until now. But Carol had promised her a few things too that she'd failed to live up to in the end, hadn't she? Not that she hadn't had cause to go back on those promises, true, but... but Bette wasn't wrong, the things she was saying. Besides all that though, she felt a growing sense of dread about what she was doing, about prospect of feeling those things again, about taking herself back to that dark place inside herself that had been born when Tayori had been murdered. She didn't want to feel those things again, but, at the same time, she felt... just do desperate to have this woman, to feel like she was in love again, and Bette was the only woman she felt capable of having that with, the only one who would _have_ her anyway, so... if Carol was going to blame her for what she was about to agree to, then she should... then she should blame herself too. Because she was going to have Bette for her own, whatever she had to do. She wasn't a good person, not with what she'd done in her past, or what she was about to do now, or, if she was, she wasn't the _kind_ of good person that would have let her keep Carol with her, so... maybe she just needed to stop trying to be something she wasn't. "You've got me. I've been on this planet for nearly two years now, and I know... I know you aren't lying. And... like I said... I've fought for this sort of cause before. Perhaps not unselfishly..." She caressed Bette's face. "I'm not being unselfish now either, you should know..." She told her with meaning, willing her to hear and understand what sort of person she was so she wouldn't feel betrayed by her for not saying so at a later time. "But, whatever my reasons, the results will be the same, won't they?" She offered.

Bette felt her heart beat faster. She was trying not to fool herself, she really was. "I suppose not..." She told her, feeling a little lost in Remoni's softly vibrant eyes. "And... maybe I'm not being entirely unselfish either, at the moment." She told her, moving up to capture Remoni's lips in a kiss.

Remoni's pulse raced, her skin heated, and she wanted to push Bette down and have her again... or perhaps the reverse first? Either way, both ways... and a _wide variety_ of other ways besides, now that she considered it. The kiss broke and Remoni felt her head spinning a little and she was fervently hoping that Bette was done talking for the moment so they could do other, more enjoyable things again for a while. A long while, she was hoping. "Well... now that that's settled, have we... done enough talking for the moment, do you think?" She asked in a deliberately seductive, breathy soft voice.

Remoni's voice sent shivers of intense desire and need all through her, and Bette wasn't about to deny her again. "Oh fuck yes..." She grabbed her about the shoulders and pulled her forcefully down onto her, rolling her over onto her back and kissing her, hard, grinding into her and holding her down to the bed, intent on going down on her, but taking her good, sweet time about it so as to thoroughly enjoy herself along the way.

As Bette started nipping at her ear, moving down to lick and kiss the skin of her neck, Remoni arched her back and smiled a little giddily to herself, deliberately pushing back all thoughts of what she'd just agreed to in favor of just living for the moment.

A small part of her though... perhaps not so small a part, actually... wondered if she was being a fool. She wondered if, if she just give Carol a little more time, just tried _harder_ to mend her ways...

But, then she remembered the look in Carol's eyes the last time they'd seen each other. She'd been cradling Zinda Blake's unconscious body to her. Remoni knew she hadn't been the one who'd hurt Zinda so badly, Carol must have known it too, but they both knew it had been her _fault_... The look in Carol's eyes, so deeply hurt and betrayed...

What sort of person must she be to put a look like that in the eyes of someone you claimed to love?

She had a feeling she just might find that out soon, and she wasn't really as optimistic about the discovery as she'd like to be.

She decided that she was going to try to surprise herself though. Try to turn this thing she was starting with Bette into something better, something she could be proud of. Something Tayori would be proud of her for. If not for Carol's sake, if not even for Bette's sake, then maybe for her own.

Because love _could_ make that kind of difference--she had to believe that, even after everything.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(to be continued)


	4. Diana In The World

#4: DIANA IN THE WORLD

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_(back in the present day)_

Inside the storm was like nothing Diana had ever felt before. Even it, apparently, could not harm her physically. But this storm was not just one in the air, but one of mind and spirit as well. It shook through her, made her see nightmares and dark things. Not wicked things, but fierce and wild without form or thought. They laughed, they roared, they danced and hunted after and around one another. Tempting her and frightening her all at once. They made her see things in herself, not all things she very much liked or knew to be there. If losing Phillipus as she had hurt her, this hurt her nearly as much. She found herself laughing at one point right along with these creatures of storm. In that moment, part of her wanted to stay with them and be like them. But she did not. And though it took great focus and determination, she did finally make it through.

Once through, all she saw around her in all directions was open ocean. No island, no home. She looked back and made herself see the storm barrier again. It comforted her that she could still see it if she wanted to. That she indeed had a way back home, that the goddesses had not hidden the way back from her as punishment for leaving the paradise they had given her as her birthright. She closed her eyes then, and just felt the sun and wind and smelled the air. So many strange scents on the wind... Contaminants, she realized.

She'd been warned of this by Aresia of course, they all knew of it because of her, how the mortals had set about willfully despoiling their world... She imagined the scent would be unpleasant in comparison to the fresh, unspoiled air of her homeland. She couldn't tell herself though. For her, scents were like sight. She could tell they were there, differentiate between one scent and another, but there was no physical reaction for her like those her sisters had described to her at times. She did find the scents of nature beautiful, of course... they had an almost lyrical quality to them, where the scents that came to her now were more muddled and confused. She could sense the ocean's familiar song among what she scented, but it was muffled and... almost pained in some ways.

She and Panopea had talked often of this... her friend and her friend's sister Neriedes had stayed away from the oceans of the mortal world in recent decades because of it, actually. Most of the goddesses and the gods had lost interest in mortal affairs of late, in fact, according to Panopea. When Diana had asked her why, Panopea hadn't known. Panopea and her sisters were... of a different nature to any Diana had ever known. They had no care for anything above the waves, including the goings on of the goddesses and the gods. They lived mostly in the oceans of Olympus, which was, Diana was told, as another world tied to, but apart from the mortal world.

She and Panopea had had a romance of sorts once, and but Panopea was as much lover to her two sisters as she was family. Diana had taken up with the three of them more than once, or two at once at times. Diana wasn't usually the kind to have multiple lovers, but it was in Panopea's nature, so she'd needed to accept that in order to be with her. Panopea's sisters were usually... playful or aloof or teasing to her, seeing her more as a source of pleasure and fascination than as truly a lover. She and Panopea always connected more, but... well, in the end, they were more friends than lovers, and they'd both known it in their hearts. Diana could tell Panopea anything and her friend would never judge her at all, just listen with interest and as much understanding as she was able to offer. Would Panopea even hear her now were she to go down into the oceans of the mortal world and call for her?

Did she even want to talk with her friend now? No... no, not now... perhaps in a few months' time. When the pain of Phillipus's betrayal wasn't quite so fresh. Perhaps then she would try to seek her out.

Now? Now she had an adventure before her, one she'd too long denied herself. She would not deny herself now.

She looked out across the world, and then up, into the sky. She smiled and flew--straight up.

As she flew, it grew deathly, impossibly cold. It did not hurt or harm her, but she had never felt such a feeling before. At the same time, as she flew faster, she felt heat burning around her, and that felt good, exhilarating. She went faster still, until, in just a few moments, the heat was gone and all was still. She looked around. All was utter silence, and she felt just... essentially alone. No air against her skin, no sounds, only sight. She saw the sun as she never had before. She looked down and saw the Earth from above and was struck with wonder. She looked all around. Saw the moon--a barren place, not so romantic as she might have imagined. She'd never been able to see so... _far_ before. She cast her sight further and saw planets. One, Saturn, had life on it, she realized. Red people. One, she imagined, noticed her and looked back at her. She waved, and realized how silly that was. She looked further, and further again, out into the vastness of the void. So much... nothing. She focused then on a nearby star and looked closer, saw the flames of it and was momentarily entranced, and then, as though drawn by whispers on an imagined wind, she was drawn to a world. One lush with plant life, intensely sentient and so unlike anything she'd ever imagined. There was a woman there. Her power was almost everywhere on that far off world... a soft thing, but strong, and... careful, weary, but... also proud? She shook her head and brought her attention away, deciding to save the up here and the out there for another time. There was a whole world below, the world of her birth, that she had only seen a small, protected part of. She wished to see it all. To challenge it, and find her path in life once more--find the truth of her own heart.

She looked at it then, curious about what she'd been thinking of before. A world with another world apart but tied to it... As soon as the thought occurred to her, she could almost see it too. It started to come into focus, but, as it did, fear made her look away. That was the home of the goddesses and the gods, that was Olympus... it would be folly and sacrilege to peer into it without leave. But she considered: if there were one other world, would there be others? She searched and found... several. She only saw the edges of them though... If she focused on them, could she see them? Could she... travel to them somehow, if she wished? Could she even travel to Olympus if she tried? Had the goddesses given her that gift too? And... if they had, was she meant to use it? Perhaps she would pray on it later. Sometimes, one of the goddesses would answer her, talk with her a little, when she did, or send her dreams. Most often Aphrodite or Artemis. At times, Aphrodite almost talked with her as a friend would. Artemis felt more as a sister seen from the other side of the mirror, or the other side of the sky. Dimeter was the one who spoke in dreams. Athena was distant and rarely spoke. Hestia offered comfort as a mother would, but only when it was most needed. They were all goddesses though, different in nature all together than her sister Amazons, and all hard for her to truly comprehend.

Once, she had seen Hera in a dream. They had stood on a cliff overlooking an ancient city on the shore of a sea or an ocean. There had been no words spoken between them, Diana felt as if she'd forgotten what words even were at the time. Their eyes had met though, and Hera had touched her cheek. To this day, Diana couldn't quite understand what Hera had wanted with her, what her eyes had tried to convey, what the dream meant, or even what city it was she had seen... It still felt important to her though. And she had the strangest feeling that she would know what it meant one day...

That was for another day though. Today she was going to explore.

So she headed down again, this time towards land. She had seen maps from the time before the exodus and she was able to recognize the area of the world that was Greece. She decided to go there first... she'd always wanted to see it most, hadn't she? To see the land where her mother and sisters had been born to?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 _Themyscira, midday, on the beach..._  
_\-- 3271, 4th month, 15th day, Themysciran calendar --_

Phillipus walked along the shore, looking off to the sky, thinking. _Where are you, my love?_ She thought to the sky.

She'd woken that late morning, alone in the room she and Diana shared, and had the vague sense that something was very much amiss. That Diana wasn't with her was worrying, but, given how unsteady things had become with them, perhaps not all-together unexpected... It wouldn't be the first time her erstwhile lover vanished, off lost in thought or... or any of a number of things, really. She was usually a very attentive lover, but... the strain between them lately...

Phillipus knew that she herself had been taciturn at times of late as well. The blame was shared, if not perhaps... more owing to herself, as opposed to Diana at all. It wouldn't surprise her, truly, if that were the case.

She thought back to their last conversation. _"I can be enough for you. If you'll let me, I have to believe that._ " That's what she'd told Diana. Diana had met her eyes, stared into them as if she could see into her soul somehow, and told her thank you. Then... then she'd been gone. Just vanished.

"Thank you." She spoke the words aloud. _Thank you_... What did it mean? She'd thought... She'd hoped, it meant agreement. That she'd give them a chance, give her the years, the decades she plead for... but... what if it hadn't? What if it hadn't meant that at all?

"I should know this..." She lamented softly to herself as she walked, feeling a soft sort of despair growing over her. Because they'd been together for years... She should _know_ what Diana would mean when she'd said those words. If she were a worthy lover, then she should _know_...

She'd gone looking. That's what she was doing now, looking for Diana. They needed to talk more. It wasn't right, that Diana had just left her like that... it felt as though she were being punished for a crime she had no knowledge of even committing. Or, maybe she did. Maybe she was simply a failure at love?

She thought of Phthia then... and wondered again, was this fate of hers because of the choice she'd made that day? Was it... some sort of curse upon her, that she had chosen loyalty to her queen over the woman she'd clamed to love? It had been thousands of years... but that choice... it had never truly ceased to torment her, had it?

No. She told herself. No. She'd made the right decision. Even... even above her loyalty to Hippolyta, something she doubted she could ever disavow, there was also the truth of her own heart. She had no desire towards the conflicts of the mortal world. She had fought too many of those battles and wanted no more of it. Neither then, nor now. The question always was though, had she truly made that decision for the right reasons... or, had she simply been afraid?

She sighed. The truth of your heart, Diana? She thought to herself. How wrong you are if you think to find such things in the ways of strife, the ways of men... Strife, war, violence... there is no peace in any of it, none at all...

Sitting on the rocks by the water, she saw Venelia and Helen sharing soft, intent kisses. She smiled to herself, then looked out on the ocean again.

Where would Diana go?

Somehow, a thought occurred to her, though she didn't know why it did.

She turned and headed back down the beach the way she'd come.

It would be more than a day's walk, but she was going to tell Mala where she was going and then she was going to go talk with Aresia.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 _In the skies above Greece, in the mortal world, Earth_  
_\-- 3271, 4th month, 15th day, Themysciran calendar --_

At first, she hovered above, between the sea and the clouds, just watching...

Vessels of land, sea, and air, just as Aresia had described... even more advanced, she would suppose, as time had passed since then. To see them, to be in the mortal world, to know it was real with her own eyes. She smiled, excitement coursing through her.

This was it, she'd done it, she was here! She laughed in delight and went down closer, hovering above the water in the bay, a mid-sized city along the shore.

She flew in towards the shore, in an upright hovering stance, in no hurry but taking in everything around her as she went, fascinated. She saw three women on a sea vessel, two laying in the sun, the other sitting in a chair reading a book. They had few clothing, and looked in generally better than average health than the majority of the other women and men she could see from here. She went over to them, and, as she alighted on the vessel's deck, the woman reading the book looked up and met her eyes. Her eyes widened and she gasped softly, putting her book down and offering a shy, wonder-struck greeting.

"Hello." Diana smiled to her, speaking Greek. "I'm Diana. I mean to harm."

The woman replied, but her words made little sense. Diana furrowed her brow. The language sounded Greek, she recognized some of the words. _Of course_ , she realized. The form of Greek she knew would be archaic to the people of the modern age, the language must have changed so much in the thousands of years her people had been away. In that time, her people had largely abandoned the language as well, inventing their own. Diana tried again, asking if she spoke Serbian or Albanian, in those respective languages. Aresia was originally from Serbia, her mother's family having immigrated from Albania, so those had been the languages she'd known upon arriving on Themyscira. Diana had learned both when they'd first been getting to know each other. She knew two other languages, but both of them were most likely as archaic as the form of Greek she knew.

As she spoke the two other women on the boat came over to them, talking with each other.

"I speak Serbian." One of the women who'd been sunbathing told her after a moment. "My name's Bree, um, this is Lauren," She indicated her fellow sunbather. "And Helena." She indicated the woman who'd been reading. "Helena, she told us you... flew here? As in, through the sky, like... a meta-human?"

Diana was relieved that she had someone she could communicate with. "She spoke the truth, though I'm not sure what you mean by the term 'meta-human'." Diana replied. "I'm Diana, I don't mean any harm. It's my first sojourn here, in your world. I'm exploring, hoping to... have an adventure, I suppose."

"Oh..." Bree replied, looking to her friends, relaying Diana's words to them. Diana waited for Bree to turn back to her. "And, by 'our world', does that mean you're, um, an extraterrestrial then? From another planet? And, if you are, why do you speak Serbian?" She asked, clearly curious, and, perhaps wisely (given what Aresia had told her of the dangers of the mortal world), also still weary of her.

Diana shook her head. "No, I'm not extraterrestrial... My people have always lived on Earth, as yours have, simply apart. Isolated. I speak Serbian and Albanian because a friend of mind came from there, from Serbia, though her mother's family were from Albania originally, so she knew both languages, and she taught them to me."

"Oh, alright then. Um, so, if you can fly, what, um, what else can you do? There are other people, you know, out in the world, who can fly and do... all sorts of things. People call them meta-humans, or super-humans." Bree told her.

Diana understood. Aresia had told her there were people with abilities in her world, the demi-goddesses and demi-gods of a new age perhaps. She sighed. "I have many blessings, given me by the goddesses of Olympus. It's an involved tale however, not easily explained in few words."

"Huh? Oh, alright." Bree replied, a little distracted by her friends. She turned to them and talked, relaying Diana's words again. Diana took the opportunity to glance around out at the sea and the city on the shore. From here, it really was quite peaceful. And these women seemed friendly. She didn't know what it would be like to actually meet a man though, and considered asking Bree her opinions about them.

"Sorry, Diana?" Bree spoke.

"Yes?" Diana replied, retuning her attention to Bree.

"My friends and I were wondering what, I guess, what you want from us? What your plans are?" She asked, a little apprehension in her voice.

"I hadn't really thought about it, honestly. Not in an immediate sense. And, please, there's no need to be nervous of me. I'd never harm you. I'm trained in the ways of personal combat, true, but, for my people, it's become only a recreational pursuit. I don't mean to disrupt your peace. I'll certainly leave you to enjoy your day, if you'd rather me to?"

"I um, oh, no, or, I... That's great to hear, about, I mean." Bree sighed. "Sorry. Sorry, I'll try not to be nervous. And you don't have to leave, okay?" She told her. "So, you're... like, sight-seeing then? Is that it?" She asked.

"Essentially, yes. For the time being at least. My people were originally from Greece actually." She had a good feeling about Bree, felt like she was someone she could confide in. "That's why I came here first. I saw you when I was approaching the bay and thought I'd introduce myself. I suppose it seemed like it would be easier. I'm, can I ask, you've had interactions with men, I assume?" She asked.

"Huh? Oh, um, well, of course. Hasn't everyone?" Bree asked, confused.

Diana shook her head. "I've never met one. My friend, Aresia, tells me they're violent and largely immoral though. Is that your experience as well?"

Bree's eyes widened a little, then she laughed. "I guess that's one way you could look at it." She said. Helena touched her shoulder and Bree turned to explain Diana's question to them. They looked surprised and confused as well, but also laughed. Diana wondered exactly what the jest was, but decided to forebear asking quite yet, curious what they would say.

"Sorry, but um, really?" Bree asked. "You've... never met any men?" She asked.

Diana shook her head. "There are none where I'm from."

"Really. How does that work though? Um, I mean... how do you, you know, um..." She trailed off, seemingly momentarily at a loss.

"Procreate?" Diana ventured.

"Right. That." Bree confirmed.

"We have no need to, my people are immortal." Diana explained, wondering how much she should really be revealing about Themyscira to those of this world. It seemed unlikely there would be any harm in being honest, but, then again, if word were to reach these modern demi-goddesses and demi-gods, would they be able to travel through the storm barrier as she had? Would they... was it possible they could bring war? Not the demi-goddesses, surely, but the men of that type, would they? If Aresia spoke true, it was a legitimate concern. Mortals certainly wouldn't be able to breach the barrier, but those like her with connections to the divine? The goddesses and gods of her people were not the only deities who had connections to this world, after all. And she did not know what form interactions between these... factions... took. Perhaps caution would be the better choice.

"Huh." Bree replied. "So... all lesbians then?" She asked.

Diana titled her head to the side, trying to place the term. Understanding dawned. "Lesbians, yes. Are you... not?" She asked. She knew, intellectually, that women in the mortal world often coupled with men. She'd expected to encounter the practice, obviously... but, actually _encountering_ a woman who might do such a thing still felt so... alien to her.

"Lauren is. Helena mostly not. Me? Mostly women, but I can go both ways." She said, her eyes drifting to Diana's chest momentarily, her cheeks heating just a little. "Sorry. Just, um, you're um, you're really kind of amazing. To look at I mean. Your skin, it's like... perfect." She swallowed.

Diana smiled so her softly, feeling half-heartedly flattered, but... She wasn't really in a frame of mind to flirt with a woman she'd only just met. Not today, at least... She needed time, probably. "Thank you." She told her gently.

"Yeah, um, yeah... of course." Bree told her, meeting her eyes again and looking shy. "Sorry."

"It's all right, I don't mind." She told her honestly.

"Would you, um, would you like to sit? Have drinks while we talk maybe?" Bree asked.

Diana considered, glancing over at the sofas a little ways from them on the deck. It was obviously a social convention, sharing drink, to engender a more comfortable and informal setting. "Alright, that sounds nice." She agreed, seeing no reason not to.

Bree conferred with her sisters and Diana wondered off over the deck towards the sitting area, curiously inspecting the vessel she was on as she went. She wasn't really sure what to think of it. She looked out over the water again. They were far enough out that they had plenty of privacy from the other vessels that were out on the water that day. She saw one some long distance away that was engaged in snaring fish. They ate them here, didn't they? Animals? She shivered in disgust. Her sisters on Themyscira ate only fruit... Diana herself did at times herself, to be sociable, but neither she nor her sisters ever needed to, such was their blessing of immortality, but Diana had never found it to be physically pleasurable as her sisters seemed to. She'd never experienced what it was to _taste_. Rather, it would feel as a mild sort of communion with the plant that had grown the fruit. When she made love, drinking of her lover was a similar communion, a more intense one that she highly treasured. Or, when she'd tried spring or ocean water, she felt communion with the ocean or the forest around her. What sort of drink would they offer her, she wondered? Aresia had told her mortals drank all sorts of things... she simply hoped Bree wasn't going to offer her an enslaved animal's stolen breast milk, because _that_ she would very surly have to refuse... Part of her wanted to ask Bree about her eating habits, but she decided against it.

"So, what can I get you?" Bee asked, catching up with her, her sisters following along. "Um to drink, I mean."

"Do you have spring water?" Diana asked, actually curious to commune with the local natural environment in that way. "From the city by the shore?"

Bree blinked. "Kavála? Oh, um, no... I guess I don't. I mean, I have spring water, I do, it's um, French though? Is that okay?" She asked, going over to where she had a number of bottles.

"France, that's a country to the west of here, isn't it?" Diana asked.

"Huh?" Bree looked back over to her. "Oh, right, to the north. Yes, it definitely is." She replied, a little flustered, but in an endearing way. Diana decided that she was growing fond of Bree, and hoped they could be friends.

Diana smiled. "French spring water it is, thank you."

"You're um... You're welcome." Bree replied, the way she said 'you're welcome' was shy, cute, and definitely flirtatious. She turned and retrieved a bottle, giving it to Diana.

Diana took it and went to join Bree and her sisters in sitting together so they could talk further. Lauren was a little guarded, but kind and she obviously had feelings for Bree, while Helena was curious and thoughtful, and maybe a little distant seeming. Diana wished she knew more of the modern languages of this world so she could talk with them as well, and resolved that she would have to learn them soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 _A room at the Melia hotel, Athens, Greece_  
_\-- 3271, 4th month, 15th day, Themysciran calendar --_

Dr. Barbara Minerva stretched luxuriantly as stepped from the shower, purring a little to herself a she went to retrieve a towel. It was so nice to be able to be _human_ again when she wanted to. Oh, she loved her feline shape, loved so many things about it... the power, the grace, the way it felt to hunt in the night, to kill with her teeth and claws and feast... but she'd also missed some of the simple things. Being able to walk down a street, just one among a crowd, being able to dancing at a club, being able to rent a hotel room, have a shower...

Well, actually, she _could_ still shower in her other form of course--she had in fact, many times--but... it very much was _not_ the same thing.

Minutes later, dry, warm and feeling reasonably content, she went and found some underwear and then sat on her bed. The hotel she was staying at had the advantage of being only around a quarter of a kilometer from the Epigraphic Museum, storehouse of the world's largest stockpile of ancient Greek manuscripts and texts. She'd spent a few hours there last night in fact, well after closing. She'd had to kill one of the night guards who'd had the bad grace to not stick to his assigned patrol schedule. That had been a bother, if an enjoyable one... It was strange... That bothered her a little, having killed him. It never did when she was her other self. Even appearing human as she was now of course, she was still partly her other self, still strong and fast and quite deadly, if not to the same degree. While she was fully the Cheetah though, she never felt regret for her kills, only satisfaction and rightness. In that form, it was simply her nature, her function in the order of things. Being human again, apparently, it felt less so.

True, she'd never been what anyone would have called a scrupulous individual before she'd become what she was now. She'd killed, twice, but never really enjoyed it. She'd done it to get what she'd wanted, because there hadn't been a better way. Now... she sighed. There was no use in bemoaning it. She'd wanted power, she'd wanted to never have to be afraid of anyone, to never have to want for things she couldn't have, and now she had that. In regards to most matters at least...

She lay down on her belly then, hanging over the bed a little, and pulled out a case from underneath, bringing it up with her, putting it on the bed before her, opening it, and taking out a few of the manuscripts there. She laid them out, one next to another. She could feel the echoes of power in some of them. Not power they contained, but power they called to. They were all prayers.

She hadn't had time to really look through them last night. Or, she _had_ she supposed, but she'd just wanted to clean herself off and have a nap then. Waking up, she'd taken a second shower just because she'd felt like it. Now she wanted to read them. She still thought of herself, partially, as an archeologist. She was still fascinated by the ancient world, the legends, the mysteries of it all, the lost treasures yet to find.

A shiver went through her as she started to read a prayer for the dead to Hades.

The reading was slow and took time for her to think through the meaning of all the words she was reading. Two manuscripts later, she felt it--felt her. She looked up and she was there. "How... how long have you been there?" She asked her softly, both unnerved and turned on by the fact that she could do that, that she could sneak up on her so easily--no one else could.

Donna Milton smiled to her just as softly. "Not so long... I like to watch you when you're like that, I think. It's attractive."

"You think so?" Barbara asked, sitting up, getting to her hands and knees, her eyes intent and locked on the woman before her. The inscrutable, expectant look in her eyes, the curve of her lips, the way her long, blonde hair fell over her shoulders. Barbara wanted her, needed her... It was always like this whenever they were together. The yearning for her, the desire to please her whatever it took. It would be maddening if it didn't feel so very, _very_ hot...

Donna came over to the bed, sat before her, and started to put the manuscripts away with care. Barbara watched, intently, enjoying the waiting game. The cheetah in her liked to take her time with this, liked to watch. The angles of her face, the softness of her lips, the muscles in her shoulders, the swell of her chest, the shapes of her fingers, how they moved... all the little things. Her scent, her energy, her power... And she was _powerful_ , so _strong_... Donna had told her that she was an immortal witch of some kind, that she'd plundered and stolen her power, just like her. Barbara wasn't sure exactly how much she believed her of course, but, then, she didn't care enough to be worried about it. Because it was true, whatever else might not be true, that they were alike. Donna... got her--got her so well--and she could play her like a master violinist could play a Stradivarius. Donna could hold her down, play as rough as she liked with her feline side and never be hurt. When she really let it show, Donna more than glowed with it, she was a... a _force_ , Barbara could almost believe she was a _goddess_ in fact, though Donna had denied it when asked.

The chore done, Donna calmly put the case on the floor and sat before her. "How have you been, kitten?" She asked softly, touching Barbara's hair and gazing into her eyes.

"I hate it when you call me that..." Barbara replied, moving a little closer. Donna had left for a couple days, leaving Barbara to handle the thefts at the Epigraphic Museum on her own. She hadn't told Barbara where she was going or what she was doing, and, while that did _bother_ her, she was just more interested in seduction at the moment than she was in pressing for answers that Donna may or may not give.

"I know. But I enjoy it when you hate me just a little. Do you really? Hate me? Even a little?" Donna asked, voice soft and thoughtful and mysterious.

"I can't. You... you must know I can't. I just _want_ you." Barbara told her with open honesty, laying her heart bare. A part of it was galled by it, that she was so _stupidly_ in love with this woman. She wasn't usually the kind of woman to let herself be taken advantage of or dominated in _any_ way, but, somehow, when Donna acted like that with her, it just made her crave her all the more. She felt she'd been trapped and then set free to hunt the woman who'd trapped her--and Barbara _was_ enjoying that feeling a lot, of _hunting_ Donna, of trying to _tease_ out all of her many secrets, of trying to _conquer_ her, heart and soul. All the more so because Donna was clearly stronger than she was. It was the challenge of it, it _excited_ her. Everything about Donna excited her, called to her like a siren... Maybe she was under a spell, she'd sometimes considered? If she was though, it was a good one, because she didn't think she'd want to be free of it, even if that's what actually was going on. A sad statement about her predilections? Perhaps, but it was true anyway. Besides, she considered the likelihood that Donna _was_ enchanting her to be fairly small anyway. Somehow, she thought at least a part or her, the part that was connected to the ancient cheetah goddess that gave her her power would sense it and be disquieted if that were the case... She didn't know for sure, but her instincts seemed to be telling her that at any rate. On the contrary, the Cheetah inside her seemed to crave Donna's touch as much as she--seemed to sense a kindred spirit in her that could be trusted, just as Barbara did.

Donna smiled softly, stroking her hair and gazing into her eyes. "I do know. Do you think I'm being fair to you, letting you love me this way?" She asked.

"That depends... Do you... love me?" Barbara asked, gazing at her with naked avarice in her eyes.

Donna appeared to consider it. "...Yes... You know, yes, I think I do in fact. Does that surprise you?" She asked, mildly curious.

Barbara smiled, triumph and a little smug pride waking inside her, because, somehow, she was deadly sure that Donna wasn't lying to her just then. Over time, she fancied she'd gotten quite skilled at telling what was a lie with her, and what wasn't. Just another game, another _chase_... "If you love me, then you're being fair to me, aren't you? Does _that_ surprise you?"

Donna smiled and laughed just a little. "You know? I think it just might." She told her, moving in to kiss her, soft and deep, pushing in, laying Barbara slowly out on the bed below her. And she _had_ been telling the truth, she knew it, she _was_ in love with Barbara Minerva. Of course... she _also_ tended to fall in love with most any other woman she decided she wanted to bed at any given moment in one way or another. She wanted what, and who, she wanted, when she wanted it/them, and that tended to change from decade to decade. It was just her nature, it seemed-- _fickle_ \--fickle and scheming and all sorts of wickedness, but, she genuinely hoped, with at least a _partially_ good heart beating inside her chest. Of course, she fancied she hadn't always been that way. In her youth, in her many long years of life on back down into antiquity, she fancied she _might_ , in fact, have been wholly virtuous and uncomplicated without a duplicitous bone in her body. But then... maybe that was just another comforting lie--or, perhaps, only a comforting half-truth. But, again, maybe it wasn't? Maybe, one day soon, she'd get bored with all of her many games and decide to do something else entirely, _be_ someone else entirely, maybe even someone virtuous and honest and all those things Diana certainly was at the moment... The idea did have a certain sort of appeal. Alas, today was likely _not_ going to be that day... but, still, she _was_ in love with Barbara, and, just perhaps, in something of a deeper way than she'd experienced in quite some time. How much difference that would make towards her actions though? Well, she supposed she'd have to wait to find out, wouldn't she? A part of her hoped that... she might surprise herself this time.

Barbara felt the wanting and the anticipation building insider her. As she kissed her, Donna's clothing seemed to mist away from her in wifts of energy like smoke--soon, it was like they had never been there at all, and Donna effortlessly just _tore_ Barbara's bra and panties away from her with her hands, sending shivers of hot desire and full-out _need_ through her. She felt herself growl, deep in her chest, and _change_. She hadn't even thought about it, it just happened, and it felt so _good_ to be herself again. She bit and clawed at the woman above her's neck and back, savagely, but Donna only laughed in gentle delight and grabbed her hair, tilting her head back, and then claiming her mouth in a long, slow, sensual kiss that had Barbara purring and feeling weak with so much wanting it crowded out anything else. She _belonged_ with this woman, _to_ this woman... at moments like this, she knew it in her soul, and was very alright with that fact. She kissed Donna back, purring loudly, and just kept kissing her and kissing her as Donna's hand held her head, her other hand caressing her ribs, her thighs, her inner thighs, before finding its way to her slit, two fingers sliding up and down over her wet opening, over her clit. It fired her, all over it fired her with an _inferno_ of pleasure. Their chests moved up and back against each other in a sensual pressing that felt hard and soft all at once and Barbara opened her legs wider, arching her back and grasping her lover, one hand holding Donna's head the way Donna's was holding hers, the other grabbing her ass and squeezing, kneading. Donna moaned softly in pleased approval, continuing to stroke her in a lithe, steady, temperately firm rhythm that was like a drum beat, pounding between them, between their bodies. It was mesmerizing and inevitable and profound.

The kiss parted and Donna smiled serenely through an ever-growing haze of passion as her lover gasped under her. She was delighting in this so thoroughly. Barbara was such a beautiful, _passionate_ lover. She put her entire soul into the act of it, and Donna found that single-minded focus and attention to be nearly addictive in its appeal. Also... she did rather enjoy the tail as well, as she was now being reminded as it wound around her thigh and slid into her easily. Thin and long and the fur felt inside her like nothing else she'd ever experienced. It teased her, and wiggled in her, going as deep _into_ her as there was to go and stroked and pressed her there, and soon she was gasping too. She felt... happy. Barbara seemed to have that talent, the ability to make her happy. It was such a simple kind of happiness too, uncomplicated and pristine and new. That was such a gift, for someone as long-lived as she. It truly was. She felt the pressure build between her thighs, felt it building in her lover too. Barbara pulled her down onto her mouth in a crushing kiss and Donna slid her fingers into her and applied just the right pressure as the pressure inside of herself reached its climax too. The kiss broke again and they _both_ cried out in soft, intense passion. She felt swallowed up by it, lost in a haze of driving need and passion and the connection to another soul you felt when you truly let down all your guards to them and they did the same for you. That was _magic_ , a better, truer magic than any other power she fancied she had within her. Donna fell against her lover, breathing hard, the waves crashing over her, again and again and again and again and again and again...

Barbara's mind was spinning and whirling with pleasure and satisfaction and need. She felt so, so amazing, but, at the same time, she needed more, needed to do it again, she felt like she might never get enough of this, like no one else would possibly be good enough for her except her, except Donna... She turned her head, still breathing hard. She caressed her lover's cheek, ran her fingers through her hair, nuzzled into her, scenting her deeply again, and started kissing her, cradling her head, running an arm down her forearm. She slowly rolled her over onto her back, staring down into her eyes, mesmerized and so captivated by them. Donna never blinked or looked away from her gaze, never showed any fear, and, right now, Barbara was sure she saw love, love and nothing more, and nothing less. It made her heart speed and her mind freeze and her desire and wanting soar even more wildly than she thought it ever had before. She started to growl, even as she kept purring, and Donna just smiled, that sexy, inscrutable, teasing smile of hers and Barbara kissed her hard and was at her, ravishing her with a driving form of love, need, obsession, and instinct that wouldn't be stopped except by force. She was gone to it, her instincts and passion completely loosed...

Donna felt the switch in her lover like tidal wave crashing on the shore, and she exulted in it. Barbara was lost to her passions now, was like a wild thing, and something inside herself very much responded to that. The nature of her magic was such that it connected her strongly to the natural world around her, to anything around her, and, right now, she felt herself connecting with Barbara's magic in a way she'd never achieved before. It was ancient, ancient and primal, from a time long before even she'd been alive, and it saw her and found her not wanting. She felt it then, the wildness, the core of it, the core of Barbara's magic, the presence of the goddess that lived inside her lover, and she felt her body shift, become a Cheetah to match Barbara's. It was a thrill like nothing she'd ever felt before, and she was wild as she surged up against her lover, Barbara forcing her back down, biting her neck, drawing blood where she hadn't been able to before, Barbara's teeth were tearing into her, teasing her, and Donna bit her back, hard, the hot blood felt so good, so right, pouring down her throat. The wounds closed almost the instant teeth were withdrawn, the instant after claws raked flesh, but it didn't hurt, it wasn't pleasure either, it was something else, it was raw _hunger_ and _need_... the scents and tastes of blood and sex were _intoxicating_...

They tousled and fought and ravished each other, again and again and again. The room was wrecked, the bed destroyed, but they kept going at each other, stalking each other, attacking, dominating, giving in, until finally it melted into something else more like play, then just sweet passion and petting and making love on the floor, kissing and getting to know each other in a wholly different way than they had before. It was understanding, safety, likeness, home, family... Donna found herself falling asleep in her lover's arms late into the night when it was almost morning. Her thoughts coming back to her just enough for her to be very glad that she'd thought ahead to have cast a privacy enchantment on the room before entering. No one would have heard anything, no thumps or growls, or shattering furniture. The building wouldn't have shaken, and maid service wouldn't have thought to check on them, and, in the morning, when they woke, it would be a simple matter to magically return the room to its former state, with no one the wiser. She felt herself purring contentedly, Barbara purring on top of her as they held each other, and it lulled her off to a peaceful slumber.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 _The city of Kavála, Greece, later that day..._  
_\-- 3271, 4th month, 15th day, Themysciran calendar --_

Breanne Montenegro (Bree, to her friends) had come to Kavála with her friends, Lauren Hale, and Helena Kosmatos, on holiday. They'd been friends since boarding school. Bree had been sent there at the age of ten. She'd met Helena her first day, they'd been roommates. They'd looked out for each other. Lauren had arrived the next year and been stand-offish, but Bree had liked her and had been determined, for some reason, to be her friend. She'd succeeded... though Lauren had made her work for it, admittedly.

Years later, when she'd been sixteen and Lauren seventeen, Lauren had been her first... Even though she knew very well that _she_ hadn't been Lauren's first. She'd seen Lauren with other girls and had been secretly jealous. Secretly, she still felt that way whenever Lauren was with someone else. They'd been on and off... They'd been off for the last two years, actually... though they'd never stopped being friends. It was her fault, she knew it was. At seventeen, she'd cheated on Lauren with a boy when Lauren had been away on holiday with her family. It had been so stupid... _so_ stupid. But she'd done it. She often wondered if things would have been different if she hadn't done that. If she'd been faithful.

She'd told Lauren upon her return, asked for forgiveness. Lauren broke up with her and had been icy to her for months. She'd eventually managed to pester and plead and bribe her enough to take her back, first as a friend, then, in time, as a lover. Lauren had always been thin-skinned though. So, the on and off thing had sort of happened, until it stopped. But, Bree had never been able to shake the need to have Lauren in her life, and Lauren, thankfully Lauren seemed to see things the same way.

Lauren had called off her wedding last month. To a woman named Christine. Christine had been the reason for the two-year off period... and, honestly, while this trip had ostensibly been to comfort Lauren after her breakup, in reality, Bree was hoping to get another chance with her. She'd thought she'd matured over the last few years... or maybe she had. But she still wanted Lauren. She'd always wanted Lauren, even when wanting her had seemed doomed or scary or anything else. She'd always wanted her. Hell, at this point, she wanted to have a fucking family with her, to be her wife, like Christine had almost been... and why, exactly, was it that Christine had just had to be a humanitarian aid worker exactly?

It was a question she'd often pondered. If she'd been a bitch then she would have been able to feel justified in breaking them up, but, alas, every time the craving to try it had come over her, the faces of those starving children in the brochures the NGO Christine had worked for popped into her head and she just hadn't been able to bring herself to do it. As the wedding had gotten closer and closer, it had driven her pretty damn nuts, actually...

So, the question was, all this being true, why, exactly, was she walking through the streets of Kavála with someone else right now? Someone who looked... well, like Diana looked. Which is to say, way too perfect for anyone to have any business being.

She sighed.

"What is it?" Diana asked, her attention brought back to her new friend. She'd been looking around the plaza she found herself in, marveling at the people bustling around. Many of them were staring back at her, many of the men as well as many women, and she found it all a little unreal. Quite a few people had come up to her and Bree as they'd walked through the city, asking this question or that, some had seemed reasonably kind, others less so, with Bree having had to translate for her. Bree knew more than twelve languages, and could, apparently, put just about anyone at ease with no difficulty at all speaking in any one of them, which Diana found both fascinating to watch, and very impressive. Less impressive, she found, were the people themselves. So many of them looked so... bizarre... even grotesque in the worst cases... Bree and her sisters, while their physique was underdeveloped in comparison to anyone from Diana's home (Helena in particular looked almost emaciated), hadn't seemed too outside the norm of what Diana had thought of as a woman. The women here, many of them, Diana could scarcely recognize as such. And the men... they were basically just alien to her. She could hardly imagine a woman wanting one to couple with, any more than she could imagine one wanting to couple with an stag, a falcon, or a tree... She'd read in books enough to know the basic mechanics of such a match, but, as she had no desire to attempt a coupling with one herself or to learn more on the subject, she decided it was probably a topic best ignored for the time being.

"Just thinking I'm a moron, that's all." Bree replied with a self-conscious smile.

"And why is that?" Diana asked indulgently. As they'd talked on the boat, Bree and her sisters had grown more at ease with her, Bree especially. Bree had offered to be her guide, though Lauren and Helena had declined to come along for whatever reason.

"Really want to know?" Bree asked, looking at her with a hopeful sort of friendship that was still tinged with shyness.

"Yes. Tell me?" Diana asked, wanting to be of help. Both because she genuinely had come to like Bree a great deal and because the distraction would be welcome.

Bree sighed again. "Honestly? I think I did something stupid when I offered to be your tour guide like I did." She confessed. "It didn't occur to me that I was at the time, but looking back... it does seem kind of obvious to me."

Diana was a little startled. "But... why?" She looked around. "Am I drawing too much unwanted attention?" She asked, wondering if perhaps it was making Bree as ill at ease as it was she herself.

"Huh? Oh, no, nothing like that." Bree looked around and shook her head. "People are stupid, you know that?" She muttered.

"I'm confused." Diana admitted.

Bree smiled a little sheepishly. "Yeah, I can see how you might be. Sorry." She said. "Let me explain. I... well, I'm sort of not-so-secretly in love with my friend Lauren. It's kind of like the running theme of my life by this point, if you must know."

Diana smiled, charmed. "I _thought_ she looked at you that way, now that you mention it."

"She, um, really? She did?" Bree asked, sounding both pleased and apprehensive.

"I'm fairly certain of it, yes." Diana replied. "...What's the difficulty between you? If I can ask, I mean to say..." She trailed off.

"Oh, it's a long, long story answering _that_ particular question." Bree replied.

"I have time." Diana answered, not feeling any urgency to be elsewhere at the moment.

"Yeah well... I'm not really sure I do, that's sort of the problem." Bree confessed. "The whole point of this trip, for me at least, was to try to get her back. She was, well, she was going to marry someone else. The woman was like... a saint or something. I couldn't even hate her, even if she sort of stole the love of my life from me."

"I admire your selflessness then." Diana told her softly. On Themyscira, there were no such ceremonies or public pledgings of commitment, though she knew of the custom well enough from her studies of history. Her people had tried it, long ago, but it soon became apparent to her mother that it wasn't the wisest practice to maintain in a society of immortals, and so her mother had outlawed the practice, instead exhorting her people to simply be true to their own hearts. The law worked, and, while heartache was still a fact of life (as, she imagined, it would be among any society) the island Diana had been born to was one where there were only very rarely any truly badly hurt feelings over matters of romance. Her own recent experience being one of the obvious exceptions...

"Thanks. That's um, that's nice to hear." Bree told her. "Well, anyway, it ended up not working out between them, you know? Or, well, of course you don't know. _I_ don't know. I have no idea at _all_ what broke them up, actually. She won't tell me. She's kind of like that about some things. It's cute, but, obviously, also kind of frustrating sometimes. Also cute though. She's um, kind of addicting that way, if you know what I mean. I mean, that's kind of how you know you're really, like really, in love with someone, isn't it? When you like everything they do and say, even if it makes you crazy sometimes?"

Diana laughed softly. "I'd say it's a strong indication, yes." She replied, her spirits lifting by the moment as this conversation went on.

"So, me and Helena decided to take her on a trip, here, to Kavála, down the eastern Greek coastline actually, to help her get over the breakup. But, it's kind of a sham, at least where I'm concerned. I was... I want her back, you know? I can't stand the idea of her with someone else again. Seriously, the last two years have been the worst ones of my life, watching the two of them together and having to pretend I was in any way okay with it. I wasn't. I just wasn't. So, here I am, and here I am, with you, and not with her, and that's..."

"Why you're a moron?" Diana provided.

"Pretty much, yeah." Bree agreed. "I um, I mean... you're... you're really beautiful, and, you know... I kind of think we get along, right? And, okay, so maybe I was a tiny bit infatuated. But I didn't..."

"You think Lauren took it the wrong way when you offered to be my guide." Diana supplied.

"Well, I didn't at the _time_. I don't always pick up on romantic cues in a timely manner. Social ones, yes. Romance? I'm kind of pathetic at it a lot of the time. It's a thing for me, okay?" Bree asked as though she was hoping for understanding.

Diana smiled softly. "I'm just thinking, you remind me of someone a little..." She told her.

"Who?" Bree asked, curious.

"Her name is Phillipus... She and I were... She and I were very much in love." Diana told her.

"...What happened?" Bree asked softly.

"She betrayed me, with another woman. Someone she'd been with, before she and I were lovers."  Diana confessed.

"Oh..." Bree replied. "Do you, um... do you think you'll ever forgive her?"

Diana looked up to the sky. "I... I don't know." She said quietly, looking over to Bree then. "It only happened yesterday, honestly... It's amazing how a day can seem so long... I just... I ran from her is what I did. So we have that in common. Ulterior motives for our travels. In answer to your question though, I.... suppose I haven't let myself face my feelings for her yet. I think... I think I simply need some time with it before I'll know what to do with myself in regards to her. I still lover her... that never goes away of course, no matter what we do. But, more than that... I'm not sure of."

"I get it. No, I mean, that... um, that makes a lot of sense." Bree told her, feeling guilty by proxy, because she'd done that to Lauren way back once upon a time. It would have been nice to hear Diana tell her that, yeah, _of course_ she was going to forgive the lady she had back home in lesbian land (wherever _that_ was) and give her another chance with her... Oh well, can't always get what we want, right? _Blah_.

"Why did you go with me, and not stay with her?" Diana asked.

"Because it sounded fun. I thought we could all go have a good time together. I... had momentum?" She offered.

"Momentum?" Diana asked.

"Yeah. Momentum. I get tunnel vision sometimes. I live in the moment, or maybe a future moment. I..." She sighed. "Do you think I'm a lost cause? Be honest."

"I don't." Diana replied. "I _do_ think we should probably return to your sea vessel though." Diana looked around, feeling uneasy in this city. She couldn't say why, exactly. She sensed such a melee of emotion and energy here. Some positive, some neutral, much negative... She wanted to find the truth of it. The truth of this world. But... she also very much did not want to put Bree in any danger while she did. "In fact..." Diana moved forward and scooped Bree up in her arms, the other woman giving off a surprised yelp as she did. "I think speed is of the essence. Would you like to fly with me?"

"I um... yeah, okay, we, um, could do that." Bree said in a shy sort of voice, finding this all very hot, actually. Not that she was ever, _ever_ going to admit that to Lauren. But, seriously, she thought the fact that this was happening right now and she wasn't thinking about making any sort of play for Diana, who was undeniably a wet dream come to life for any lesbian or bisexual woman in the world, was probably proof positive that her feelings for Lauren were completely real.

"Hold on to me then." Diana told her, lifting off to the startled cries of many around her, flying Bree off towards the harbor at a slow enough speed and low enough to the ground that she wouldn't come to harm from it.

"Are, um, are you sure this is such a good idea? Flying like this so everyone can see?" Bree belatedly thought to ask.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Diana wondered back.

"Well, it's um, it's going to draw a lot of attention. Maybe you just get famous. I don't know if you want that, but maybe you'd get the wrong kind of attention too." She offered. "This world has a lot of good in it, a lot of beauty, but... there's a lot that's wrong about it too."

Diana thought silently on that for a long moment. Would the demigods of this land attack her out of fear? But no. Being careful with information was one thing, but hiding her nature out of fear was another. It was not honorable, it would be the act of a coward. She would not seek conflict, but neither would she cringe from a threat. "That may be, but I won't hide who or what I am." Diana told her.

"As long as you know what you could be getting into." Bree told her, letting out a breath as they started to skim over the water towards her boat. "Oh wow..." She spoke in soft awe. "It must... it must be so amazing to be able to do this, just fly like this whenever you want..." She spoke.

Diana smiled to herself. "It certainly has its moments." She told her.

"I'll say..." Bree answered, her voice still kind of awestruck.

Altogether too soon for her tastes, Bree felt them slowing as they came upon her yacht, Helena standing on the deck looking at them with Lauren rising from her seat to stand next to her.

As they landed, feather-light, on the deck, Bree caught Lauren's guarded look between her and Diana. Diana sat her down on her feet and Helena spoke. "I guess you decided _against_ using the motor boat for the return trip then?" She asked. Playful sarcasm being a thing Helena was very talented at.

"Um, right. There was a reason for that." Bree told her friends in French.

Diana took up her hand then and walked forward towards a still somewhat weary Lauren. "Um, what are you doing exactly?" Bree asked Diana in Serbian.

"Not wasting your time." Diana answered, a small soft smile on her lips as she took Lauren's hand with her other hand and brought it together with Bree's. "She loves you." Diana told Lauren, even though she knew the woman wouldn't understand.

"What um, what's she saying, Bree?" Lauren asked, looking between her and Diana. "And, um, why the hand holding?"

"Oh, that." Bree said, heart beating fast and suddenly nervous. "Well, she said to, um, for me to tell you that I'm in love with you. I never stopped, if you have to know... and... that I shouldn't waste time and... that I should just tell you how I feel."

"Oh..." Lauren replied as Diana released their hands and stepped back. "Well, that's all right then, I guess." She smiled a little.

"Really? I um, it is?" Bree asked.

Lauren sighed. "Just why was it you thought I broke up with Christine anyway?" She smiled shyly.

"I... um, had no idea why." Bree told her honestly.

"Idiot." Lauren told her, closing the distance between them and kissing her. It was probably the best kiss she'd ever had.

There was a soft rush of wind, and when the kiss finally broke, Bree turned to find Diana nowhere in sight.

She turned back to Lauren, smiling, and kissed her again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Out over the water, Diana smiled as she flew back towards Kavála. She'd make it a point to check in with her newly made friends on the morrow to see how things went, but, for now, she thought she would go see Kavála again, on her own this time. Both because she thought Bree and Lauren could use some time about now without her there as a distraction, and because she wanted to find more of the truths of this land for herself.

It was true, she was at a disadvantage not knowing the local dialect (the contemporary version of it, at least), but perhaps that would be best. As she'd recently bitterly learned, it was one's _actions_ that truly mattered in the end, not their _words_. She tried not to indulge her feelings of bitterness at Phillipus's betrayal, but the feelings were there nonetheless and she would have to deal with them at some point. At some point. Not, necessarily, today.

As she got closer to shore, she sped up, faster and faster, until no one would be able to track her by sight. Once to the city, she descended down between two structures into a narrow deserted alleyway. From there, she walked out onto the streets.

This was a less well-kept part of the city. It smelled strongly of fish and metal, primarily. There was a large structure down the road from her where those smells were stronger still. She heard the sounds of toil and metal grinding against metal. As she walked, she garnered stares and comments from most people whom she passed by. One man, well-muscled and nearly as tall as she, stepped in front of her path and spoke.

She met his eyes. "I don't speak your language." She told him in Serbian.

He replied, smiling in an unpleasant way, reaching to take her hand. She batted it off and he spoke to her again. She stood her ground and didn't speak again, wondering what he would do next. He got closer, touched her arm, speaking further. She pushed him back. He smiled, shook his head, said something else, and continued on his way.

Diana watched him go, pondering the encounter. He hadn't attacked her. Somehow, she'd expected that he would by the way he'd been acting. Not that she was any true judge of such things, but she had the huntress's instincts Artemis and bequeathed to her as part of her blessing and she'd been able to tell well enough that the man had been in a predatory state. She'd never seen anyone act in such a way, not even close. She'd imagined it from Aresia's descriptions, but, apparently, her imagination had failed her. Or maybe it was only the difference between an imagined idea of a thing and a true experience of it? According to Aresia, his aggression would likely mean he meant to rape, subjugate, or rob her. _Obviously_ not to challenge her to a sparring match, and she very much doubted he'd only been playing at aggression as an offer towards passion that could be freely accepted or not without harm. Those were the only two types of aggression she'd experienced in her life thus far. It could be that it had been an attempt at courtship and that he'd left her be when he'd realized she truly wasn't interested she supposed. It seemed very crudely done, but that could be all that it was. If the aggression were real though, then perhaps he'd sensed her strength and thought better of it? ...Perhaps again he'd sensed her strength and gone to gather numbers against her?

She couldn't know. She had so little context or understanding of these people and their ways--the men least of all, obviously. But, should she follow after him anyway, to make sure he wasn't out to do harm? He couldn't harm her of course, but what if, sensing her strength, he was now off seeking a victim that was not so much of a risk?

She turned towards the building she'd been curious about before, then back towards where the man had headed. After a moment's hesitation, she was decided and turned to walk after him. Thanks to Artemis's gift, she could easily follow him at a great enough distance that he would never suspect her. Along the way, she attracted yet more curious looks and comments that she couldn't understand anything but the tones of. She was also waylaid by attempted conversation a few more times, but none of those carried the aggression of the man she was trailing behind and all were successfully rebuffed without incident. One had been from a woman who had clearly found her enticing, and she'd found that interaction at least to be somewhat enjoyable.

As she walked on through the city, the man stopped once at a structure and emerged again some short time later with packages of what she guessed were food and drink. She'd waited down the street, looking through the window of a structure, on the other side of which held a collection of small figurines of jewel, metal, wood, and crystal. The craft of them was varied and a curiosity to observe.

A man came up to her and asked after some subject or another. He was easily sent on his way though, and, when her quarry had immerged from gaining his packages, Diana continued her pursuit. Her trek soon took her to a more residential sector of the city. It still amazed her just how many people there were in the mortal world. That there were thousands of cities such as this around the planet, all with as many or more inhabitants as Kavála contained was a daunting thing to contemplate. And, not only that, that this world was only one of many, and this plane of existence only one of many beyond that. There could be no end to it, and it made her feel almost lost to consider it. Her world had been so, so small in comparison, had it not? What did it say of her that, in some ways, she found herself missing the simplicity of that? More, that... she found herself missing Phillipus, even as it frustrated her that she felt that way.

Had she acted rashly? Oh, obviously she had. Should she have stayed? At least to have talked things through with her? She didn't know.

Her thoughts were cut short moments later though, when the man she'd been trailing after seemed to reach his destination--a small residence, shabbily constructed and ill-maintained. Diana watched and listened from across the way, wondering what he was about. She heard the sound of a woman's voice from inside with him, and the play of a child... A child. She still found that strange, for all that she knew she had been one herself at one point. There had been and still were not any other children on Themyscira. As a child, she'd had no contemporaries. As a grown woman, she'd never encountered a child, at least not until earlier this day when Bree had shown her this city and she had seen several of them. She wondered what it would be like to talk with one. If they would remind her of herself when she had been young.

She was sharply drawn from her musings by the sound of an attack and a cry of hurt from the woman in the residence the man had gone into. With a start, Diana realized that she'd been wrong to assume this must be the man's residence. This wasn't his place at all, he had come here, as she'd feared, to attack a woman who wasn't as able to defend herself as Diana was.

She was across the road in moments, through the door and at the man, grabbing his arm in a crushing grip, even as he had been about to strike at the woman whose residence this was yet again! "Brigand!" Diana exclaimed in ancient Greek.

The man cried out in pain and whirled on her, shouting a word Diana didn't recognize before attempting to strike at her with his free arm. She tossed him to the ground before the strike could come though. The woman cried out softly, fleeing from the room to go to her child.

The man cradled his broken wrist and shouted more meaningless words at her. What was she to do now, Diana wondered? Slay the man? Take him away from here, perhaps to ask Bree what should be done about him? Aresia would certainly tell her to take out her dagger and slay him, lest he live on to do more harm. Was she truly prepared to do such a thing though?

The man got to his feet and took up a blade of his own that had been laying on a flat, polished piece of wood. He ran at her, the weapon brandished. He meant her death, Diana realized. The knife was no threat to her of course, but it surly would be against the woman and child who lived in this place. Had he meant their deaths as well? Diana didn't have time to think more than that. She sidestepped his clumsy attack and struck him, closefisted in his belly. A thud, crack of bone, and sharp exhalation of breath issued forth and the man's lifeless body crumpled before her, his weapon clattering to the floor uselessly.

Diana blinked and looked down at him, hardly believing what had just happened. Had she... had she truly meant to slay him? Was it wrong that she had? Was it right? She shook the thoughts from herself and knelt to look at the lifeless body of her foe. What was she to make of this? Of this world of mortals? Of this type of person called men, so altogether alien to her eyes?

Certainly, Aresia must have been at least partially right about them, that this one of them had attacked a woman and child so callously, for what dark reasons she could only guess at. But certainly, she must be wrong to some degree as well. She had encountered far more men than this on this day, and she'd seen no clear sign that they were all so full of deprivations as Aresia claimed. Could their kind truly be so varied that some of them could be peaceful and harmless while others the seeming opposite? She'd never encountered anything of a like to it if so. All women she'd ever known were peaceful and reasonably kind, all animals acted similar to others of their kind in like manner. True, personalities varied widely, of course they did, but not a kind's basic nature. What was she to make of this?

The woman she'd arrived in time to rescue from her foe came back into the room then, asking something of her in a meek, fearful voice. She spoke in modern Greek, of course. "I'm sorry, I don't speak you language." Diana replied in Serbian. "Do you speak Serbian?" She asked. "Or, perhaps Albanian?" She asked further, switching to Albanian.

The woman looked confused a moment, then shook her head that she didn't understand.

Diana went over to her. The woman backed up from her and Diana stopped, sighed, then shook her head. "I know you can't understand my words, but perhaps you'll understand my intentions just the same?" She asked softly, in a kind way, trying to reassure her. "You're safe from your foe now. I'll take him from your home and you may attend your daughter. Be well." She told her.

The woman just looked back at her, confused and unsure. She said something else, but Diana could discern no useful meaning from it. She sighed again and went to pick up her fallen foe's body, laying it over her shoulder and turning to leave.

As she walked from the residence, the woman called after her hesitantly. Diana turned and the woman spoke more kindly to her this time, offering some form of acceptance or, perhaps even gratitude, Diana couldn't tell.

"Farewell, and may Hestia's blessings be upon your home." Diana offered her in ancient Greek, before she floated from the ground, turned in the air, and left, quickly speeding up fast enough so that her movements wouldn't be easily noticed. She traveled down the coast, finding a place by the shore that wasn't inhabited by the peoples of the mortal world and set about digging out a grave in the sand.

She'd read of the funeral rites her ancestors in Greece performed and, having concluded that, whether or not this man was deserving of them, she would give them none the less, set about laying his body to rest. Once it was done, she spoke a short right of passage, commending his soul to the afterlife, and asking Hades to judge him fairly for his deeds. She then spoke a longer prayer to Athena, asking her if she had done the right thing in slaying this man. She received no immediate reply, though had not truly expected to. Athena was usually aloof towards her, and often mysterious in the manner of reply to her prayers, when she replied at all... Diana had often puzzled over her relationship to Athena, curious if it were simply Athena's nature, or if she found her... lacking, in some way. She was the goddess of wisdom, so that would be no small thing if it were so.

Prayers said, Diana floated up to a nearby cliff and sat on the ledge, looking out over the sea, letting her thoughts drift for a time. She found herself thinking of her mother, Hippolyta, regretting that she'd left without a personal farewell between them. She let herself imagine how the scene might play out when Aresia went to her to explain the reason for her departure from their island home. She hadn't considered it before now, but, she thought, what if the news created a rift between her mother and Phillipus?

As far as Diana knew, the two had always been friends. Phillipus had even taken sides against her once love for the sake of that friendship... They had never been lovers, Diana knew, but the trust and friendship between them had always seemed stronger than steel. But, Diana knew, Hippolyta, usually the soul of fairness and virtue as a queen, often behaved much unlike herself where Diana was concerned. Towards her, Hippolyta was... vulnerable. Not in the way one was vulnerable with a lover, but it felt like the bond between them was nearly as strong. She supposed it must be thus for all mothers and daughters, or she liked to imagine it would be. She had no way of knowing though, as she'd never met another... not until just minutes before when she'd come to a mother and daughter's rescue against a dangerous foe.

The mother she had saved from harm, she had seemed kind though, had she not? It made her feel better about her actions to remind herself of that. That, to not have acted as she had, it would have likely have resulted in far worse a fate than the one she had affected. In fact, she considered, she may well have prevented another young girl from having to watch their mother beaten, violated, and slain as Aresia had endured. Her friend hadn't had anyone to protect her then. She had the thought that Aresia would probably be quite proud of her today... She wasn't quite ready to let herself be proud quite yet though.

She needed to talk with Bree. She'd known that. She'd just... needed time first.

But she'd had her time, so she pushed off the cliff and flew out towards the spot on the water where Bree's vessel was. Then, thinking better of it, she veered off towards the shore and went to retrieve the motor boat she and Bree had used earlier that morning, recalling that they'd left it ashore.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bree was in heaven, she had to be. She and Lauren had just made love repeatedly, like women who'd been starved for it and now she was above her, kissing her neck, tasting the light sheen of sweat and still tasting Lauren's cum on her lips as she did. Lauren's hands were caressing the contours of her back, their legs were tangled together, chests pressing into and sliding against one another... Lauren let out a sigh and a gasp as she arched against her and held to her more tightly. Bree felt the hard pressure against her chest, felt her clit against Lauren's athletically muscled skin and her thoughts went a riot with desire all over again. She wanted more sex, needed it, needed Lauren...

As Lauren relaxed back to the bed under her, Bree moved up over her again, capturing Lauren's lips in a rough, possessive kiss. Lauren's hand went to the back of her head, tangled in her hair, grinding their lips together almost bruisingly. Bree felt the thrill go through her at again having proof of how much Lauren wanted her too. They'd talked--after Diana had left? They'd talked... not for very long before they'd been at each other, but it had been enough for Lauren to confess to her that Christine had been secretly insecure over her and Bree's friendship and past together, and that it had come to a head in an argument one night. In the heat of the moment, Lauren had said some things that had made her realize that Christine had been right, that she was still in love with Bree...

 _In love_... "I love you so much..." Bree found herself whispering between heated kisses as they started to grind against each other... the feel of Lauren's thigh between her legs, just _wow_...

"I... love you too..." Lauren gasped back. "Now let's just fuck, I want to _fuck_ with you..." Lauren told her in a soft, raw voice that sent trembles of naked desire and need coursing through Bree, head to toes to fingertips...

"Oh, _fuck yes_..." Bree breathed out as Lauren bit her skin, carefully, but hard enough she knew she'd bruise. It was driving her wild... She pressed down hard against Lauren, grinding hard, spreading up so she was almost frantic for it, and Lauren grasped at her, pressed against her just as feverishly. It seemed like every time they did this it got more and more _intense_... Lauren's nails were scratching across her back, not hard enough to draw blood, but they felt amazing... Then Lauren grabbed her ass with one hand, her head with another and kissed her hard, pushing up forcefully against her and rolling her over, bearing down with a fierceness that took Bree's breath away and blew her apart as she let go and came and came and came, her back arched, holding Lauren hard to her, she cried out her lover's name and, at length, fell, exhausted against the bed, panting as Lauren nipped at her earlobe and kissed her skin. "Damn..." She breathed, trying to catch her breath and feeling more sexually satiated than she had, well... sense the _last_ time she and Lauren had made love, maybe even more. "Now we _have_ to get married..." She said, smiling and feeling like everything was perfect.

Lauren stilled over her and rose up, touching Bree's hair and looking down into her eyes. "Are you... Are you serious about that? ...Even a little?" Lauren asked, the last just softly.

"I... well, yeah. Of... of course I am. I mean... I didn't mean we should, I didn't mean now, I didn't... but, yeah... Yeah, of course I want that." Bree told her, caressing her face, gazing up into her eyes. "I mean, we've known each other practically all our lives, and I lost you to her, to another woman, for two years, and I hated it... I hated it _so much_. And I _know_ I've messed up, I know... I know I probably can't promise I'll be the best wife you could want, but I can promise I'd try like hell to be as close to that as I can be..." She told her. "...So, yeah, _damn right_ I want to marry you. Maybe in a few months, maybe in a year, whatever you want, but... Yeah, you're who I want. No one else."

A soft, sweet, hopeful smile came over Lauren's face. "You really mean that, don't you...?" She asked softly, sounding amazed.

Bree sighed. "I'm just sorry I didn't say it sooner." She told her. Because, really, she knew she'd been an idiot not to. She'd been an idiot about so many things...

Lauren kissed her. "Don't be." She told her softly. "We've both made our mistakes. Maybe... maybe now we can start to make things right?"

Bree smiled and relaxed fully against the bed, gazing into her lover's eyes, just letting herself love and adore her. Because, really, Lauren deserved that, deserved someone who could give her that, give her everything they could offer her. "I think we definitely can." She told her, as Lauren moved in to kiss her again.

Bree came up to meet her half way and let herself be lowered back against the bed again, realizing they'd arrived at the cuddling and making out part and feeling really, really good about that fact.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Helena Kosmatos had been reading again. She liked to read. She had a smile on her lips though, even though the passage she was reading at the moment wasn't at all cheerful or funny or beautiful. Just a description of a diner, where a the protagonist, a spunky and irreverent private investigator, had entered to meet the cousin of the man whose untimely death she'd been investigating. No, the smile was there because her two best friends, who'd been, in her opinion, ridiculously clueless for years on end... had, apparently, finally caught a clue. Her long toil and struggle as sympathetic sounding-board was, at long last--at least hopefully--over. _Ah, bliss._

She'd called her current boyfriend, Rene, who was off on an excursion and the moment. He was an archeology student, so he traveled sometimes. She'd called him to talk and told him everything that had been going on. Rene was perfect to talk with. So guarded about himself though. But, well, she'd always loved a good mystery, she supposed. She sighed, missing him.

Something, some quality of sound, made her take notice then. She put down her book, then heard it more clearly. A boat, a motor boat. She went over and retrieved one of the guns they kept close at hand, just in case of pirates, then went to the side of the boat facing shore where the sound of the motor boat was coming from. She tensed as she saw it, heading right towards her. She freed the safety on her gun. She'd taken lessons, but she'd never actually _shot_ anyone.

She let out a relieved breath though when she saw it was only Diana, returning their boat, apparently. Diana waved to her, and Helena waved back, a smile coming to her lips. Talk about a _mystery_. A meta-human woman from a lost island of lesbians who spoke Serbian? Oh, how she wished she spoke Serbian too and could ask her questions. Lots and lots and lots of questions.

She put the gun away and then went to lower the docking rig for the motorboat.

Diana saw the machinery lowering and guided the boat over. She'd found it a small entertainment to learn to piolet the craft on her way over. It hadn't taken long to master it, and she proved able to guide the craft into place with ease. Once she'd gotten it secured to the dockings, she lifted up into the air to alight on the deck next to Helena. "Greetings, Helena." Diana spoke. She'd managed to learn a small collection of modern Greek words, a basic one for greeting among them.

"You speak the language now? Wow, fast learner." Helena spoke to her in Greek.

Diana didn't understand her. "I know only a very few words of Greek." Diana replied, using the phrase Bree had taught her.

Helena smiled. "Right, should have known." She sighed. "Guess I can't ask you why you left, or why you're back, now can I?"

Diana shrugged and didn't speak, only smiled helplessly to her. "Bree?" Diana asked hopefully.

Helena got the idea that she was asking if Bree were available to do her translating thing. Bree collected languages and passport stamps like Helena collected books. She'd certainly dragged her and Lauren along on enough of her expeditions to know that. Bree spoke twelve languages fluently, and could at least get by in quite a few others. It kind of made her jealous, really. She shook her head. "Bree's um, occupied. You know, with, um _occupying_ Lauren?" She explained, hoping Diana would be able to intuit the essential meaning of her words. "You know." She made and "O" with her thumb and forefinger and licked the empty air inside it. "With Lauren?" She explained.

Diana couldn't help but understand _that_ , even though none of her sisters on Themyscira had, to her knowledge, ever used that _particular_ hand gesture to describe it. She laughed happily. "Good for them." She told her, smiling, and glad for glad news to lighten her heart. It was half the reason she'd returned earlier than she'd planned, because Bree had that way about her to cheer other people without hardly trying. She was rather like Panopea in that way... also in the way that she had two sisters, now that she considered it.

Helena was relieved to see Diana so happy about the news. She'd half suspected that there might have been at least a flirtation between her and Bree... or, more accurately, Lauren had suspected it and Helena hadn't been able to truthfully tell her that the idea was for sure unfounded, much as she'd wanted to have been able to tell her that. Luckily, it seems, it actually had been. "Um, wait here." Helena remembered the idea she'd had.

It would be slow and clumsy, but she thought maybe it would work. She went over and got her iPad. Diana, curious, trailed after her new friend. Helena swiped the unlock bar and brought up a web browser, navigating to the Google Translate page. She selected Serbian and Greek as her two languages. She typed. "I thought if this. It's an iPad. It can translate for us. The translations aren't exact, so, if something sounds weird or out of order, that's why. Want to try?" She clicked _translate_ , then handed the iPad to Diana.

Diana took the pad, studied it momentarily. Her eyes widened as she read the words in Serbian and started puzzling out what an _iPad_ was. She'd seen Bree use her fingers to operate it, and began to experiment.

"Come on, let's sit." Helena offered.

Diana glanced up and absently followed Helena over to sit next to her on the sofa. She tapped something then, and the pad's display abruptly changed to a screen with a number of labeled glyphs. An index? perhaps for different functions the device could perform? What did they all mean? She showed the pad to Helena who scooted up next to her to see the display with her.

"Oh." Helena understood. She'd accidently hit the menu button. She tapped the web icon and Google Translate came back to the screen.

Diana's eyes brightened and she took the pad back in her hands fully and continued to experiment. A few minutes later, she thought she had a good enough grasp of how to work it, at least in so far as the translation function. She successfully reversed the languages and typed on the letters selector she'd discovered, spelling out the words she wanted in Serbian. "Thank you for showing me this, it's a very clever device." She tapped the blue square and her words were translated in the adjacent rectangle. That done, she handed it over to Helena, hoping she'd been successful in her attempt.

Helena took it and read. She smiled, excited. It worked! "You're welcome!" She typed. "I have so much I want to ask you." She translated it, Diana huddling closer to her as she did so they could both see the screen. Helena shivered in pleasure, just a little, enjoying the proximity and the sense of peace and easy friendship she got from just being around the woman next to her. She seemed so... just... well, good. She gave the iPad back to Diana.

"Ask me anything you want." Diana typed, passing the pad back.

"Before, why'd you leave?" Helena typed. "And why'd you change your mind and come back?" She asked.

Diana took a moment to consider, then typed. "I was playing the matchmaker. I also wanted to see the city on my own for a time. I came back because I enjoy your company, because I wanted to see if I'd been successful at matchmaking, and because I'm troubled by something that occurred while I was gone and wanted to talk with Bree about it." She translated the words, noticed she'd misspelled one, corrected the error, retranslated, and gave the device back to Helena.

Helena smiled at the matchmaker part, was curious about the rest. "Thank you, thank you, and thank you again for the matchmaking." She typed. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do what you did, in like, four hours. For the rest, is it something you can talk with me about? Maybe I can help?" She offered.

Diana read the tablet, considered, then decided she should try. She felt at ease with Helena, found that she trusted her. She hesitated a few moments though, deciding on the words to use. Then she typed. "I walked by the water. There was a large structure that smelled strongly of fish and metal that drew my attention. I drew attention wherever I walked. I was approached by a man. He was aggressive. He touched my arm, I rebuffed him." The rectangle was filled, so she translated it and gave it to Helena.

Helena read it, looked to Diana, concerned, then started to type her reply. "I'm sorry that happened. Men can be awful that way sometimes. What happened? Did he take no for an answer?" She hit translate and passed the iPad back.

"He did." Diana began to compose her reply. "My friend, Aresia, came to my people from the mortal world. As a child, she witnessed her mother being raped and killed by brigands. By men. She's told me of them. She believes them all of a kind and warned me against them. Concerned this man would prove Aresia's words true, at least in regard to himself, I followed him." The rectangle was full again, so she translated and passed it back to Helena.

Helena read, growing more concerned. "That's horrible. I'm so sorry your friend went through something like that. Why did you suspect him though?" She typed. "If he didn't attack you, why would he attack someone else?" She asked.

Diana read Helena's reply and question and began compose her answer. "I am strong, I carry a weapon. He had the way of a predator about him. When a predator encounters prey that is too strong to bring down, they often retreat to peruse weaker prey. My fear was that he would seek out a woman less able to defend herself and behave as Aresia warned of towards her. I could not countenance that." She translated and passed her words to Helena again.

Helena read, dread growing as she did. "What happened?" She replied, simply.

Diana took the pad back, read the question, and began her reply. "My fears proved all too grounded. He traveled to the residence of a woman and her young daughter. He attacked the woman. Struck her. I intervened, he took up a blade and charged me. I slew him." Gravely, she translated her words and passed them to Helena.

Helena took the iPad and read. Then read the words again, feeling cold grow inside her belly, and the worry. What was she going to do about this. She turned and met Diana's eyes, apprehensive at first. But... then she saw the truth in them. Diana was conflicted about what she'd done. She... she was a stranger, in a strange land, who was stronger than everyone around her. She'd acted to protect others. To protect a mother and her child. And... she'd been attacked, with a knife. That had to be self-defense, didn't it? She looked down at the pad, considered a long moment, then typed. "It's terrible that happened. I'm sorry. I can't imagine what you must be going through right now. What happened next? With the woman and her daughter?" She considered her words, read them over twice again, then hit _translate_ , passing the pad back to Diana.

Diana read Helena's words and felt immensely relieved at the validation that she'd been in the right in her actions. Aresia must have been at least partially right, if this was such a commonplace occurrence that Helena so easily took it in stride. She definitely had been right to have been weary and vigilant of the man, and knew she would have to remain so of any other men she encountered who behaved aggressively as the foe she'd bested today had. "The woman was nervous of me at first." Diana wrote. "We didn't speak the same language, but she seemed grateful though, once she understood that I wouldn't harm her. Does this happen often in your world? I encountered many men in my tour through the city with Bree, and they seemed to coexist with the women around them easily enough. Can the nature of men truly very so widely from one to another?" She paused to consider if her words were correct a moment, then passed them back to Helena.

Helena read and took several long moments considering her answer. She knew she probably wasn't the best person to give advice like this. She'd had a good life. A privileged one. She'd traveled a lot of places with her friends, but nothing that was actually _bad_ had ever happened to her. Nothing like that anyway. She'd had a few relatives die, her father among them, in a traffic accident, and that... that had been so wretched a thing, but it wasn't at all the same. Bree had been mugged once, in Prague, but hadn't been hurt, just shaken up. Oh, she kept up with the news, she knew, had known well enough that the world had truly horrible things in it, or, more accurately, horrible people. Men, mostly, she had to admit, thinking about it now. Serial killers? Spree killers? All men. Pirates? Human traffickers? Warlords in third world countries who formed child armies? Pretty much all men, or damn close to it at any rate. Thinking about it logically, which, until this moment, she hadn't really ever done before, she had to admit, there was probably more truth to Diana's friends words than she might have previously considered. But Diana was right too of course. There were plenty of good men out there. She had to think, a lot more good ones than bad. Why was that though? How was she going to give Diana an answer? She started to type. "First, let me say, I've had a good life. I've never experienced hardship, or tragedy. Certainly, I've never personally encountered anything so horrible as what happened to this Aresia of yours. I can't give you a good answer as to why some men do such awful things. But I can tell you that, you're right too, not all of them are like that. Most aren't, I think. My lover is a man, and he's great. Not violent at all, as far as I've ever seen. He's kind, and easy to be with. But it's not like that for everyone. The truth is, the man you killed, it's possible he was the woman's husband. The child's father. It's called domestic abuse. Sadly, it's fairly common." She considered her words a long moment, and, deciding she wasn't going to do any better, translated them and gave them to Diana.

Diana took them. First, she confirmed to herself that, as she'd started to figure out, the rectangle did, indeed, expand when more text than it could contain was given to it. That was useful. She wondered again just what else this device could be used for, what the collection of glyphs she'd seen before all represented. But that was for later. Now, she needed to reply to Helena. The trouble was, she was more than a little baffled. Not to mention deeply revolted. She decided to simply ask Helena about it, rather than trying to puzzle it out herself beforehand. "If men do such wretched things to their lovers so often, by what madness do women continue to seek them out as such? Would it not be simpler, better, to stay with our own kind? A woman would never do such things." She typed. Then considered...

Was that precisely true though? There was a case among her people. This was before Diana's time. A woman, jealous, had, in a rage, murdered the woman her former lover had left her for during a sparring match that had gone too far. The murderess had fled in her guilt, but been swiftly caught and taken before Hippolyta, where she had confessed to her crime, sworn regret over her actions, and asked her queen and her former lover for forgiveness. Hippolyta prayed to Athena for guidance, and Athena had answered, appearing before them. Athena brought the slain Amazon back from the dead, then decreed that the murderess's name be stricken from memory and that she be cursed to wonder the mortal world until such time as her actions proved a true redemption. _Exoristos_ , Athena had renamed her--the exiled. Diana wondered, what were the chances that, being in the mortal world herself now, she might actually meet this fallen sister she'd never known? What could have become of her that, after all this time, Diana's entire lifetime and more, she still had not found the redemption required to end Athena's curse?

Considering this, Diana decided that, no, while Exoristos's actions were abhorrent, they were, at least, partly understandable. She thought back to seeing Phillipus there, with Meda... and she found she could relate to the feeling, at least a little. It would have felt _good_ to challenge Meda to a sparring match, she considered. Or, perhaps it would... perhaps not. No, surely not. But she had felt anger. It wasn't... It wasn't the act itself though, it was the betrayal. The lie. She'd considered Meda a friend. Phillipus, that was so much worse... Could they not simply have been honest with her? If Phillipus had wanted to end things between them in favor of Meda, could she not simply have waited to act upon it until she'd had a chance to talk with her about it first? Diana would have been hurt, but she would have understood. Would have accepted it, if it would have made her happy. She truly... she truly would never have thought Phillipus capable of such cruelty. She truly hadn't. It made her question so many things she'd once thought beyond question.

But... but still. Was Exoristos's crime of a kind to the things men did? She compared them in her mind and decided that no, they were not. Exoristos had been heartbroken over her own actions, and had felt wretched of it. _And_ , she'd struck against the woman she saw as a kind of enemy, not against her lover. And that had been a terrible thing, yes, but to abuse a lover? To actually stoop so low as to _attack_ her? Even _kill_ her? That was... such a perverse, vile betrayal, such a violation as to be... _obscene_. To think of striking someone whom you calmed to love? To think of... of killing her, of killing and raping a woman whom you did not even know? What sort of wretchedness of the soul, what bleak wrongness must it take to even _contemplate_ doing such a thing? No. No. The two things were not of a kind. Not at all.

Diana read over her words again, then translated them, giving them to Helena.

Helena read. Read again. Fuck. What was she going to even _say_ to that? She stared at the words. She started to think of one thing after another to say, but they all sounded stupid. She couldn't just repeat _but not all men are like that_ , that would be logically idiotic. And, yeah, it was true, women did domestic abuse sometimes too. But it was a lot more rare, and would they even do that if they hadn't been abused first too? If they'd never been exposed to men at all? How the hell would she know? If Diana came from an island of women and they had no abuse problems like that, then, yeah, maybe actually they might not. Or maybe those women on the island would resort to abuse if they had lived worse lives, even without men in the equation? How could she know? She'd been on the debate team in school, she taught literature off and on now as an adult, and did editing work for magazine publishers sometimes. She knew when a line of reasoning didn't hold water. How the hell was she going to come up with anything intelligent to say about this? Then, she decided she should probably just say the basic truth and leave it at that, not try to excuse or explain anything more than just what was fact. She typed. "To have children, I'd have to say. When you have a child with a man, it sort of ties you together. It's true, it only takes a night in bed to conceive, but, for a mother, you need help, security to raze a child. It's so much better now than in the past. It's all really super complicated. I'm seriously not an expert. I don't even know if I'm saying this right. I guess it's just the way things are. Things are changing, same sex relationships are more and more commonplace all the time. They're accepted more and more, and have families, children. Who knows? Maybe, the way things are going, everyone will do it in a few hundred years? I really can't say. I don't know." She gave the translated pad to Diana, hoping for the best.

Diana read over Helena's words. Children. She let out a breath. She supposed it _was_ a conundrum for them. She typed. "There's so much I don't know either." She gave the words to Helena.

"Welcome to the mortal world." Helena typed back. "I think that's the price everyone pays to live here."

Diana smiled at the words, meeting Helena's eyes to let her know she was appreciated and understood. She looked back down at the translation device, had a thought, then typed. "Would you tell me about your lover? Perhaps, how you met?"

Helena smiled to read the words.

And so they sat there together and talked without speaking as the sun set.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(to be continued)


End file.
